8&> 




LIBRARY-OF CONGRESS, 

(-nap. — ... Copyright So 

Shelf.'T"^"' 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 







i 




V 



SECOND COPY, 




X 




"When the Son of man shall come in His glory, 
and all the holy angels with Him." 



HERALDS 



OF THE 



MORNING 



The Meaning of the 

Social and Political Problems of To-day 

and the Significance of the Great 

Phenomena in Nature 



"Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? The watchman said, The 
morning cometh, and also the night; if ye will inquire, inquire ye; turn ye, come." — Isaiah. 



1/ 

ASA OSCAR TAIT 



OAKLAND, CAL. 
PACIFIC PRESS PUBLISHING COMPANY 

San Francisco New York Kansas City 






' \ ° 



27382 



Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1899, by 

A. O. TAIf, 
In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



TWO COPIES ftECriVED. 




; rEi6iu3b 














CONTENTS 



CHAPTER PAGE 

I. " Watchman, What of the Night?" 9 

II. He Will Come Again 14 

III. " This Same Jesus" 21 

IV. We May Not Know the Hour 27 

V. Watch Ye Therefore 31 

VI. Great Deceptions 37 

VII. This Remarkable Century 46 

VIII. The Gospel's Progress 71 

IX. What Many People Shall Say 80 

X. The Prevalence of Crime a Sign of Our Times . . . . 91 

XI. "Judgment Is Turned Away Backward" 99 

XII. The Earth Is Filled with Violence 115 

XIII. "The Social Vice" 122 

XIV. Maintaining the Form but Denying the Power . . 140 
XV. "Lovers of Pleasure" 152 

XVI. Ye Have Heaped Treasure for the Last Days. . . .159 

XVII. And the Nations Were Angry 180 

XVIII. The Voice of the Elements 224 

XIX. The Testimony of the Earth 240 

XX. "When Ye Shall See All These Things" 250 

XXI. "And There Shall Be a Time of Trouble" 253 

XXII. "The Earth Was Lightened by His Glory" 262 

XXIII. The Seven Last Plagues 269 

XXIV. Our Refuge and Fortress 274 

(Hi) 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



PAGE 

"When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels 

with Him" Frontispiece 

"Watchman, what of the night?" (chapter heading) 9 

"Earthquakes and tidal waves are no longer unusual things" 12 

He will come again (chapter heading) 14 

The Consoler 19 

"This same Jesus" (chapter heading) 21 

" This same Jesus shall so come in like manner " 23 

The Divine Shepherd 26 

We may not know the hour (chapter heading) 27 

" The swelling of the buds in the springtime" ... 28 

" As a thief in the night " 29 

Watch ye therefore (chapter heading) 3 1 

" The power of the magicians in Moses* time was greet " '. . 34 

Great deceptions (chapter heading) 37 

" A charmer, a wizard, or a necromancer" 4 2 

This remarkable century (chapter heading) 46, 47 

Overland in the '4o's 4 8 

Overland in the ^o's 49 

The Brooklyn bridge 5 1 

The Lucania 5 2 

The old-time ship 53 

Ocean liner leaving dock 54 

A great railway station 55 

The old " Franklin hand-press " 56 

The Hoe octuple perfecting press 57 

Robert Fulton 58 

Samuel F. B. Morse • • • 58 

Peter Cooper 5 8 

Charles Goodyear • • • • 59 

Sir Henry Bessemer • 59 

C. H. McCormick 59 

James Watt ^° 

Thomas Edison 6o 

Cyrus W. Field ^ 

Laying the Atlantic cable _ 6l 

The combined harvester and thresher drawn by traction engine 62 

" Fifty years ago grain was cut with cradle-scythe " 63 

"The hammer, anvil, and forge" 6 4 

(iv) 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. V 

"Boots and shoes were slowly made by hand" 64 

The steam hammer at work 65 

"The simple needle and thimble we're the implements " 66 

" To-day she has a machine " 66 

"Our stockings were knit by hand" 67 

The knitting machine 67 

" Fifty years ago all our writing was done with the pen " 68 

" To-day the typewriter does it much more rapidly " . 68 

" The dim light of the tallow candle " ... 69 

" The carpenter had to get out practically everything by hand " 69 

The Gospel's progress (chapter heading) 71 

Bible house, New York 72 

British and Foreign Bible Society's building, London 75 

Corner in Bible storeroom — British and Foreign Bible Society 76 

British and Foreign Bible Society, Shanghai, China 77 

Bible cart, Japan 78 

Bible boat, Siam 79 

What many people shall say (chapter heading) '. 80 

The prevalence of crime a sign of our times (chapter heading) 91 

"The same day that Lot went out of Sodom" 92 

" As it was in the days of Noah" 93 

" Judgment is turned away backward " (chapter heading) 99 

The earth is filled with violence (chapter heading) 115 

" The social vice " (chapter heading) 122 

" He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her" 133 

Maintaining the form but denying the power (chapter heading) 140 

" Lovers of pleasure " (chapter heading) 152 

His sheep follow Him 158 

Ye have heaped treasure for the last days (chapter heading) 159 

An alley of poverty, Chicago 164 

Lodging-house for the poor 165 

" Misery exists in these sweat-shops " 173 

And the nations were angry (chapter heading) 180, 181 

Evolution of the battle-ship 183 

British navy 30 miles long, Revenge in the foreground 185 

The war ships of the world, one to a mile, would cover a line from New York 

almost to Liverpool 186 

The battle-ship Iowa 188 

Cross-section of revolving turret, showing the men on the inside working the big 

guns of a battle-ship 189 

Washington Gun Factory — boring and turning heavy guns 190 

Interior of gun shop, Washington, D. C, showing mammoth traveling crane . . 191 

Big cannon being transported on specially-constructed car . 192 

The battle of Manila, May 1, 1898 193 

Marine gun on deck of ship 195 

The Maxim automatic machine gun — fires 700 rifle bullets a minute 196 

The machine gun that fires a nine-pound shell every second 197 



VI LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

The French quick-fire field gun 197 

Rafferty range finder, gun detachment working out range, distance, and direction 

of the enemy ... 198 

Mortar elevated for firing 199 

One section of a mortar battery in action 199 

Actual penetration of a trial shot from a 16X -inch, 1 10-ton gun . 200 

A piece of 16-inch armor plate, showing effect of modern cannon shots ... 200 

Results of armor-plate tests 201 

Sighting with the Dudley pneumatic dynamite gun 202 

The 15-inch pneumatic dynamite gun 203 

Some grains of slow-burning powder 204 

Blowing up of the Maine 206 

Battle-ship Maine after explosion 207 

Ten-inch breech-loading rifle being fired from a disappearing carriage 208 

Eight inch gun mounted on Babbington-Crozier disappearing carriage, lowered 

and ready for loading and aiming 209 

On a Chinese war ship — battle of the Yalu 212 

Japanese sailors working a rapid-fire gun — battle of the Yalu 213 

The battle of Santiago, July 3, 1898 217 

The voice of the elements (chapter heading) ' 224, 225 

" Fire and pillars of smoke " ... . 226 

" I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled;" "and all the birds of the 

heavens fled' 5 227 

" The foundations of the earth do shake " 228 

" The land shall be utterly emptied " 229 

Scenes in the great St. Louis tornado ... 232 

" The cyclone, whirling with terrific fury " 233 

"Storms of hail that leave ruin in ther track" 234 

" And the waters shall overflow " 235 

"The Lord turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants 

thereof " 236, 237 

The testimony of the earth (chapter heading) 240 

"When ye shall see all these things" (chapter heading) 250 

" And there shall be a time of trouble" (chapter heading) 253 

" The earth was lightened by His glory " (chapter heading) 262 

The seven last plagues (chapter heading) 269 I 

Our refuge and fortress (chapter heading) 274 



HERALDS OF THE MORNING 



" Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord 
doeth ; but I have called you fiiends ; for all things that I have heard of My Father I 
have made known unto you. 

"Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye 
should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that whatsoever 
ye shall ask of the Father in My name, He may give it you." —The Apostle John. 




MANY serious problems, social 
and political, are confronting 



the world. These problems 
are not mere theories in the minds of 
fanatical enthusiasts, but thoughtful 

men everywhere see the threatened dangers, and are in dread 
before the alarming conditions of our time. As we meet per- 
sons on the street, in the shop, on board the train, — anywhere 
and everywhere, — we find them earnestly and seriously discuss- 
ing the portents of danger that thicken as the days pass by. 

The great amassing of wealth by a few men in each of the 
various nations of earth, is perhaps without a parallel in history. 
The murmurings of the discontented classes, not in one coun- 
try nor in two, but in every corner of the globe, strikingly 
remind one of the turbulent conditions in France on the eve of 
her great Revolution and Reign of Terror. 

On every one of the three hundred and sixty-five days of the 
year, the newspapers come to us laden with their recital of crime. 
In the large cities, murder is of daily occurrence. Highway 
robbery, bold and arrogant, as well as petty thievery, is a source 
of continual annoyance, and to many it is a cause of dread 
and fear. Embezzlers and defaulters have become alarmingly 

(9) 



IO HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

numerous. Millions of dollars are every year fraudulently 
taken by these, the basest of all methods. 

Our large cities in particular, and also most of the smaller 
places, are filled with immorality and vice. Drunkenness is 
every year hurling a vast multitude to the lowest depths of 
debauching degradation. Public houses of prostitution line 
our streets, and to this open shame must be added the daily 
records of broken marriage vows and seduced and outraged 
young girls. 

These various social cancers have so completely polluted 
the very fountains of society that many conclude that honesty 
and straightforward integrity are only the ideals of dreamers. 
The money-god is so supreme in the mind that it is confidently 
asserted that "every man has his price." "Only approach him 
in the right way, and offer him the proper bribe," it is affirmed, 
"and he will yield." Everywhere is heard the mocking jeer at 
the thought of any one possessing absolute virtue and purity. 

Reformers, filled with noble impulses, have sought for the 
cause of all this evil that is coming in like a deluge. They 
have attempted to drive out the houses of shame and to abolish 
the dens of vice and crime. But on the very threshold of 
their efforts they are met with the appalling fact that the officers 
of the law are to an alarming extent in league with this vile and 
criminal class Hence the detection and arrest of the criminal 
is becoming more and more difficult. And even if he is 
arrested, technicalities and quibbles, prolonged through one 
court after another, defeat the purpose of the law, and make 
"courts of justice" a mockery. In consequence of this condi- 
tion of things, mobs and lynchings are becoming very common, 
and, incredible though it may seem, men occupying high stations 
in life are upholding "this lynch form of executing justice." 

It passes without contradiction that politics has become a 
sort of disreputable business, at which men work for the 
"boodle" there is in it. From the lowest offices in the village 



WATCHMAN, WHAT OF THE NIGHT? II 

or township up to the highest positions of the state and nation, 
bribery and fraud are freely used to elect the candidate who will 
be the most lavish in dividing the "spoils of office " among his 
political friends. 

We have been promised that the field of politics would 
produce statesmen — diplomats, who, by their powers of arbitra- 
tion rather than by the sword, would keep the nations of earth in 
the highway of peace. Indeed, it has been a dearly-cherished 
thought- — and certainly all should applaud such kindly, humane 
sentiments — that the civilization of the closing decades of the 
nineteenth century would form an impregnable fortification, 
beyond which the barbarities of war could never go. But 
instead of the realization of these exalted hopes, we hear the 
long roll sounding, and the greatest armies that the world has 
ever known are falling into line. The weapons of modern 
warfare are sufficient, it would seem, to inspire terror in the 
bravest breast; but notwithstanding the destructiveness of the 
present war implements, there is no lack of men- — and women 
too, for that matter — who are impatiently eager to exchange 
the pursuits of peace for the camp and battle-field. 

There is to-day no single nation that is not quarreling with 
the other nations, and straining every resource to increase its 
fortifications, armies, and navies. Settling like a heavy cloud 
over the minds of men, there is a deepening conviction that a 
universal war can not be averted ; and its fearful carnage and 
final results are a source of much uneasiness and deep concern. 

When computing the perplexities of open warfare among 
the nations, account must also be taken of the various internal 
factions that threaten the national life of every kingdom, empire, 
and republic. Russia has her Nihilists, Germany her Socialists, 
France and England their Communists, and even the United 
States has her full share of organized, discontented men. And 
so all over the world every nation is contending with its revolu- 
tionary elements at home, yet anxiously struggling to keep them 



12 



HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 



united for the still greater contest in the field of international 
strife. 

While these topics of the social and political world are 
presenting so many strange and perplexing features, "old 

mother earth" herself 
is laying aside her 
usual quiet habits, and 
is participating in the 
general unrest. Cy- 
clones and hurricanes, 
earthquakes and tidal 
waves, are no longer 
unusual things, neither 
are they confined to 
a few localities. But 
storm-swept land and 
lashing ocean seem to 
say, in almost artic- 
ulate roar, that the 
days of earth's tran- 
quillity are at an end. 
These things, to- 
gether with others 
that doubtless suggest 
themselves to the 
reader, are leading many anxious minds to inquire: "What is 
the world coming to ? What will be the end of all these threat- 
ened dangers?" Book after book discussing the various phases 
of the situation, is published ; magazines and papers devoted 
entirely to the subject of remedying the social and political 
evils of our time are constantly sent out ; and there is scarcely 
a speaker or writer, no matter what his field of research or 
labor, but is frequently drawn aside to give words of caution, 
admonition, or suggestion concerning the common danger. 




"Earthquakes and tidal waves are no longer 
unusual things." 



WATCHMAN, WHAT OF THE NIGHT? 



13 



But despite all these discussions, and the exposures of crimi- 
nality that are made, the difficulties continue to increase. As 
one editor of a leading daily recently suggested, crime is 
exposed, and the criminals are pointed out, but all to no purpose. 
They are still permitted to continue in their evil career, appar- 
ently without shame and beyond remorse. Many thoughtful 
and highly-educated men are seriously saying that unless this 
deluge of crime, turbulence, and discontent can be allayed, the 
whole world will surely plunge into a revolution that will render 
insignificant the most fearfully bloody scenes that history records. 

The foregoing statements are not a theory, but a presenta- 
tion of existing facts. The densest darkness of the night of sin 
and crime is surely enshrouding the earth. But is there not an 
approaching dawn ? Are there no heralds of the morning ? 
The answer, given with the most assured confidence, is, Yes ; 
He who is the "Root and Offspring of David" is also the 
"bright and morning Star," and He has promised to come in 
person to put an end to this perplexity, distress, and evil. No 
case committed to His care will be involved in the impending 
ruin. What a consolation it is to know that we have such a 
faithful Friend ! Let us hasten to an examination of some of 
the sure promises of His Word. 





HE WILL COME AGAIN 




CHAPTER TWO. 



THOUGH the conditions before the world to-day are 
filling men with fear and perplexity, yet none need be 
cast down or give up to despair. All through the dark 
night of this world of sin, the second coming of Christ has been 
set before the children of God as a cheering hope. And the 
Word abounds in promises of that event. To His people in all 
the world the Master sends the joyful proclamation: "Let not 
your heart be troubled ; ye believe in God, believe also in Me. 
In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I 
would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if 
I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive 
you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." 
John 14:1-3. 

"Let not your heart be troubled," says the Saviour; "for I 
will come again." He had been telling His disciples that He 
was soon to suffer the death of the cross, rise from the dead, 
and return to His Father's throne. These statements filled 
their hearts with sadness. But the Master does not leave them 
in despair. He at once gives, not only to them but to us also, 
that most precious promise, " I will come again, and receive you 
unto Myself." 

Again, at His ascension, while the disciples were yet intently 
(14) 



HE WILL COME AGAIN. 1 5 

looking into the heavens, whither He was going, angels of God 
were commissioned to say to them: "Ye men of Galilee, why 
stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is 
taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner 
as ye have seen Him go into heaven." Acts i :n. Note the 
promise, It is "this same Jesus!' 

The disciples had found in Jesus the " Desire of all nations." 
Their hungry souls had feasted on the words of life that He 
spoke, and they were resting in the inexpressible joy expe- 
rienced by those who are conscious of pardoned sin, and 
the invigorating powers of a renewed life. Naturally they 
desired to have Him remain with them. But, although they 
had tasted the bliss of a Christian's happy experience, they had 
not as yet grown into that fulness of faith and knowledge that 
would enable them to comprehend all that the Master had been 
seeking to instil into their minds. They did not understand 
the great truth, although it had been so plainly stated by the 
Saviour, "It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go 
not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I 
depart, I will send Him unto you." John 16:7. 

The Lord states His truth in plain language; but it takes 
time for it to be assimilated by the human mind. And when 
that truth has to uproot prejudices and errors of long standing, 
the task is a most difficult one. The idea that at His first 
advent the Messiah was to establish a temporal kingdom, and 
by force of arms overthrow the Romans, thus relieving the 
Jews from a foreign yoke, though a false hope, was dearly 
cherished and firmly fixed. So deeply entrenched was the 
thought that Christ was to be a temporal king and reign in 
Judea, that all His teaching to the contrary had not fully driven 
this delusion from the' minds of even the disciples themselves. 
For in His last conversation with them, and on the very occa- 
sion when He made His ascension to His Father's throne, it 
is stated that "they asked of Him, saying, Lord, wilt Thou 



1 6 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?" Acts i :6. 

The Master had taken particular pains to make it plain to 
all that His first advent was to be a time of hardship and 
suffering, finally culminating in His death on the cross. He 
had pointed to His resurrection, and expounded the prophecies 
that foretell the subsequent long night of darkness through 
which the church would have to pass ; and finally He had dwelt 
upon the great event of His second coming, to put an end to 
sorrow, suffering, and sin. 

But the disciples had not understood nor realized the signifi- 
cance of the words of their Lord. Their minds were still 
engrossed with the idea of a temporal kingdom, to be estab- 
lished then and there, and in which they would act a prominent 
part. It seemed impossible to draw their minds away from this 
cherished error to the exalted sphere of the divine plan. God's 
ways and plans are always best ; but how hard it is for fallen 
humanity to surrender the false and accept the true! And so 
the Father permitted the disciples with their natural eyes to 
behold their Saviour as He made His ascension to the heav- 
enly throne. Thus He forever cut off all possible hope of 
a temporal reign of the Messiah over the Jewish nation in 
Palestine. 

Then while their minds were the most impressible, while 
they were yet with amazement watching their ascending Lord, 
the angels were bidden to remind them that "this same Jesus 
which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like 
manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven." Acts i :n. 
What a lesson of tender solicitude for the needs of His 
children is here given ! And how impressive is the thought 
that God will exhaust every means to elevate our minds from 
the bewitching entanglements of error to a knowledge and full 
enjoyment of His exalted truth! 

And so the privileged disciples retired from the scene of 
their Lord's ascension, to engage in careful meditation and 



HE WILL COME AGAIN. 1 7 

earnest prayer. They tarried in their private lodgings at Jeru- 
salem until the words of truth so carefully planted in their minds 
by the Master had prepared their hearts for the baptism of the 
Holy Ghost. Then error was driven out, and truth, enthroned 
within, was permitted to occupy its rightful place. Then they 
could proclaim with power a crucified and risen Saviour; they 
could present with confidence the sinner's never-failing Hope, 
telling all that the chains of sin and death were forever broken. 
Yes; and they knew the promise, too, that "this same Jesus" 
will "come again." 

This glorious hope is a theme that has called out the most 
sublime utterances of the inspired writers in all the ages. 

'■ Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, 
saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His 
saints." Jude 14. 

"Sing unto the Lord with the harp ; with the harp, and the 
voice of a psalm. With trumpets and sound of cornet make a 
joyful noise before the Lord, the King. Let the sea roar, and 
the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. 
Let the floods clap their hands; let the hills be joyful together 
before the Lord ; for He cometh to judge the earth ; with right- 
eousness shall He judge the world, and the people with equity." 
Ps. 98 : 5-9- 

"And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we 
have waited for Him, and He will save us; this is the Lord; 
we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His 
salvation." Isa. 25:9. 

" Marvel not at this ; for the hour is coming, in the which all 
that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; 
they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life ; and they 
that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." John 
5 : 28, 29. 

"For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a 
shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of 



1 8 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

God ; and the dead in Christ shall rise first ; then we which are 
alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the 
clouds, to meet the Lord in the air ; and so shall we ever be with 
the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words." 
i Thess. 4: 16-18. 

" Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see 
Him, and they also which pierced Him; and all kindreds of the 
earth shall wail because of Him." Rev. 1 : 7. 

"And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled 
together; and every mountain and island were moved out of 
their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, 
and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, 
and every bondman, and every freeman, hid themselves in the 
dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the moun- 
tains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him 
that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for 
the great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to 
stand?" Rev. 6 : 14-17. 

"And, behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, 
to give every man according as his work shall be." " He which 
testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen, even 
so, come, Lord Jesus." Rev. 22 : 12, 20. 

Could promise and positive statement be made in more 
forcible or explicit language than is used in the foregoing 
scriptures? Not only is Jesus coming again, but He is coming 
as the Saviour of all who have not persistently rejected the 
sinner's Friend. For "Christ was once offered to bear the sins 
of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the 
second time without sin unto salvation." Heb. 9 : 28. 

So, then, while the world is filled with distress and wo, so 
that brave-hearted men tremble before the threatening evil, there 
are heralds of the coming morning. The Master has promised 
to return; and all who know Him are longing for the time to 
come. 




THE CONSOLER, 




CHAPTER THREE 



SAID the angel, "This same Jesus, . . . shall so come 
in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven." 
Acts t : 1 1. 

The Word of God proclaims to all the world that Christ is 
the sinner's Friend. Every act of His self-sacrificing life was a 
living expression of the great truth that He loves us. As we 
read the Gospel story, we are touched by the deep compassion of 
the Saviour, and the tenderness with which He devoted Himself 
to fallen man. He came so close to us, and became so fully 
identified with us, that He is "touched with the feeling of our 
infirmities." Heb. 4:15. And when we are overwhelmed 
with sin and grief and pain, and know that there is no human 
friend that can understand us and give us sympathy and help, 
we may come with confidence to our Redeemer, and tell Him 
that we know He understands us fully. We can say to Him 
that He "feels" our "infirmities," and that He knows from a 
personal experience how to apply the healing balm to our aching 
hearts. Oh, what a sympathizing Saviour ! 

See Him at Bethesda, seeking for the lonely sufferer who 
said, " I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me 
into the pool; but while I am coming, another steppeth down 
before me." The active, throbbing power of life was in the 
words that the great Physician spoke to this afflicted man ; and 
he found complete healing for every ailment in the command of 
the Master, "Rise, take up thy bed, and walk." John 5 : 7, 8. 

(21) 



2 2 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

Why did the Lord pass by all others, and seek out this friendless 
and helpless one? Oh, it is because He has so closely united 
Himself with humanity that he feels our weakness and distress! 
How gracious ! how considerate ! how tender ! 

On another occasion we find Him at the tomb of Lazarus. 
About Him are the sorrowing sisters and friends of the dead. 
We feels the grief that rends their sad hearts, and not only their 
affliction, but pressing upon His soul of love is all the sadness 
to be wrought by sin and death adown the ages. The record 
says, " Jesus wept." John 1 1 : 35. What a universe of meaning 
to us now, as well as to them, is summed up in these two short 
words! Is it any wonder that the Jews standing by said, 
" Behold how He loved him"? And well may we all join the 
apostle in saying that "God commendeth His love toward 
us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." 
Rom. 5:8. 

And so we may follow the Master all through His devoted 
life. And always do we find Him mingling with the people, 
sharing their joys and their sorrows, relieving their distress, and 
healing their sick. He gave Himself without any reserve to 
humanity — the great object of His love. And this love was 
not quenched when cruel hands and sin-hardened hearts were 
mercilessly torturing Him on the cross. Even there He poured 
out the prayer, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what 
they do." 

Then with what a thrill of joy must the words come to us, 
"This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, 
shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into 
heaven." Acts 1:11. He is the same Jesus; the same 
compassionate and tender Saviour; the same One who "hath 
borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows;" He who was 
"wounded for our transgressions," and "bruised for our iniq- 
uities," and with whose " stripes we are healed." How this 
good news should cause our hearts to overflow with joy! 



THIS SAME JESUS. 



n 



And He is to "come in like manner as ye have seen Him 
go." Yes, "in like manner." When they saw Him go, He 
was the personal, literal Jesus that they had associated with 
and loved and adored both as their dearest companion and 
Saviour. And "in like manner" He returns: He comes as the 
same literal, personal Friend for all who will receive Him. 

The apostle Paul says 
C~~T ' that "the Lord Himself 

shall descend from heaven 
with a shout, with the 
voice of the Archangel, 
and with the trump of 
God ; and the dead in 
Christ shall rise first." 
i Thess. 4:16. "The 
Lord Himself" is com- 
ing. He returns to 
earth with a triumphant 
"shout, with the voice 
of the Archangel," and 
the "trump of God;" 
and then, standing not 
%...' at the tomb of Lazarus 

only, but in the presence 
of all the chambers of 
death in which His people 
are awaiting His sum- 
mons, the voice of the great Victor is heard, and "the dead 
in Christ" arise. Such is a part of the Lord's own descrip- 
tion of His coming. 

And, further, the Word of God informs us that when the 
Redeemer comes the second time, the brightest glory will attend 
Him; "for the Son of man shall come in the glory of His 
Father with His angels; and then He shall reward every man 




This same Jesus . 
in like manner. 



shall so come 



24 - HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

according to his works." Matt. 16:27. Arid again: "When 
the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels 
with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory." 
Matt. 25:31. Mark the description of His coming: "The 
Son of man shall come in the glory of His Father;" and, "the 
Son of man shall come in His glory." Thus in this event, as 
in everything else, the glory of both the Father and the Son 
is blended into one effulgent harmony 

And, observe, the Scripture informs us that He is not coming 
alone. For with Him, in the shining brightness which God has 
given to each one of them, are "all the holy angels." Speaking 
of the number of the angels, it is said : " I beheld, and I heard 
the voice of manv aneels round about the throne and the beasts 
and the elders ; and the number of them was ten thousand 
times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands." Rev. 5:11. 
"Ten thousand times ten thousand" is a hundred million. 
But this is only a part of the vast throng; for the prophet 
immediately adds, "And thousands of thousands." 

What a glorious event the second coming of the Lord will 
be! What majestic power and floods of dazzling light will 
shine forth from this mighty host when the Lamb of God 
returns in triumph for the trophies of His grace and love! 
"As the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto 
the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." 
Matt. 24:27. 

But the great deceiver does not want us to have a proper 
sense of what the second coming of Christ means to this sinful 
world, and so he seeks to becloud the minds of men in regard 
to both the nearness of the Master's coming and what the event 
really is. The Saviour tells us, "Many shall come in My name, 
saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many." Matt. 24:5. 
But no pretender can ever present to the world a literal fulfil- 
ment of all the specifications that are to mark the coming of 
the glorified Son of God. And yet it is said of these " false 



THIS SAME JESUS. 25 

christs and false prophets" that they "shall show great signs 
and wonders ; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall 
deceive the very elect." Matt. 24:24. 

But the Word of God not only gives a faithful description of 
the manner and appearance of the second coming of the Lord, 
but it also unmasks the deceptions by which the enemy would 
ensnare and ruin us. Hence we should be faithful students of 
the Book of books. The ordinary reading of the Bible is not 
sufficient to barricade the heart against the deceptions prepared 
by the evil one for the last days. We must literally feed on the 
divine Word. We must commune with God through that 
Word and by prayer. 

We may commune with God through His living Word, and 
by a daily contact with Him become so fully assimilated into His 
life and character, grow into such an intimate friendship with 
Him, and be made so sensible of the power of His coming, that 
we shall not be deceived. We shall know the voice of the true 
Shepherd, and no impostor, be he never so cunning, can possibly 
lead us astray. For when the true Shepherd "putteth forth 
His own sheep, He goeth before them. And the sheep follow 
Him ; for they know His voice. And a stranger will they not 
follow, but will flee from him ; for they know not the voice of 
strangers." John 10:4, 5. 

We know only "this same Jesus;" only Him with the perfect 
character; only Him whose life was so unselfishly sacrificed for 
lost mankind. Only "the Son of God, who loved me, and gave 
Himself for me," can ever fill the place that He has won in the 
Christian's heart. A cunning enemy may present deceptions, 
and, among his "great signs and wonders," may even show a 
brilliant spectacle that will cause some to think that Christ has 
already come ; but only those will be deceived thereby who have 
rejected or failed to heed the warnings of the Word of God. 

Then receive the Redeemer as your personal Saviour. 
He says, " Behold, I stand at the door, and knock; if any man 



26 



HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 



hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and 
will sup with him, and he with Me." Rev. 3:20. And if you 
allow Him to draw you into this intimate association, you will 
learn to know Him as a personal Friend. You will become 
actually acquainted with the real Son of God. And the indi- 
vidual who really knows the Friend of sinners, earnestly longs 
for the day of His coming. He carefully observes every herald 
of the approaching morn ; and however this world may be filled 
with terrors, and however dark it may be to others, to him it is 
all lighted up by the sure promises that the eternal day is at 
hand. His heart is throbbing for the time, and his eyes are 
longing to behold "this same Jesus," the one object of his joy 
and love. 




CHAPTER FOUR. 



ALTHOUGH the Word of God abounds in promises of 
the second coming of Christ, yet we are told, "Of that 
day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of 
heaven, but My Father only." Matt. 24 : 36. 

This scripture is so very plain that the truly loyal Christian 
will readily see that it is no part of his work to figure out a 
definite date on which the Lord is to come. The "day and 
hour" of that great event the Father has not seen fit to reveal. 
And we may rest assured that whatever is not made known is 
withheld because of a wise and good purpose. Then we should 
be content to leave all such matters in the hands of God, without 
troubling our minds over them in the least. 

But though the Word of God is very explicit in telling us 
that the "clay and hour" of the Saviour's coming have not been 
made known, we shall find that it clearly shows that we may 
know when the event is near. The disciples asked Jesus, 
"What shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the 
world ? " Matt. 24 : 3. The Saviour proceeded to glvQ a definite 
answer to this direct question, and concluded by saying: "And 
then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven ; and 
then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see 
the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and 
great glory. And He shall send His angels with a great sound 
of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the 
four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. Now learn 

(27) 




" The swelling of the buds in the 
spring-time." 



HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

a parable of the 
fig tree: When 
his branch is yet 
tender, and put- 
teth forth leaves, 
ye know that sum- 
mer is nigh ; so 
likewise ye, when 
ye shall see all 
these things , 
know that it [mar- 
gin, "He"] is near, even at the doors." Matt. 24:30-33. 
Luke, in the twenty -first chapter of his Gospel, records this 
same conversation between the disciples and Christ concerning 
His second coming. Speaking of the signs that are to precede 
His advent, the Lord says, "When these things begin to come 
to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads ; for your redemp- 
tion draweth nigh." Verse 28. 

Thus the Lord foretells certain signs that are to betoken 
His coming. He first points us to the signs, and then He tells 
that when these begin to come to pass, we may know that our 
redemption is near. We are not then to begin to conjecture 
that possibly He may be about to return, but to know for a 
certainty that He is "even at the door." The swelling of the 
buds in the spring-time is a never-failing evidence that summer 
is nigh. And upon the Master's own word, the tokens of His 
coming are to be relied upon with the same unmistakable 
certainty. 

The language of the apostle Paul is equally clear upon this 
subject : " But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have 
no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly 
that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For 
when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction 
cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and 



WE MAY NOT KNOW THE HOUR. 



2Q 



they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, 
that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the 
children of light, and the children of the day; we are not of the 
night, nor of darkness." 1 Thess. 5 : 1-5. 

From this scripture we readily see that those who stand in 
the light will know "the times and the seasons" of "the day 
of the Lord." Speaking to his "brethren," the apostle says, 
"Yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh 
as a thief in the night." Verse 2. But that great day does not 
thus come upon all; for he says further, "Ye, brethren, are not 
in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief." 
Verse 4. The "brethren" stand in the light, and so know "the 
times and the seasons" of "the day of the Lord." 

Then there will be a class who will say, "Peace and safety," 
and upon whom "sudden destruction cometh;" and another 
class who "are not in darkness," and hence that day does not 




'As a tliief in the night 



36 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

"overtake them as a thief." This destruction comes upon the 
one class because they have chosen to hide away from the light, 
while the others are delivered because they have accepted "the 
true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the 
world." John i :g. For "light is come into the world, and 
men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were 
evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither 
cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But 
he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be 
made manifest, that they arc wrought in God." John 3: 19-21. 

Those here spoken of who "love darkness rather than 
light," will very naturally say, "Peace and safety," even though 
in the immediate presence of "sudden destruction." And while 
they remain in that blinding darkness, they can not see the 
evidence showing that " He is near, even at the doors." But 
the psalmist says, "Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a 
light unto my path." Ps. 119: 105. The reverent student who 
will open the heart and mind to the reception of that Word, 
will thereby stand among those who discern the signs of the 
times. 

Our heavenly Father has seen fit to reserve to Himself 
the knowledge of the exact "day and hour" when the Saviour 
will come. But by every sign that foretells that event He who 
is the "Friend of sinners" is now inviting us to prepare for 
His glorious coming, and thus be ready to receive Him with 
joy when He shall "appear the second time without sin unto 
salvation." Heb. 9:28. 

He is coming soon to gather all His people from this world 
of sin. All are entreated to be ready against that time. The 
invitation is, " Whosoever will, let him take the water of life 
freely." How can any one refuse this great salvation, — salva- 
tion from our personal sins now, salvation from the evils of this 
age; and then, at His coming, salvation and eternal bliss in the 
realities of immortal life? 



, 




1 






CHAPTER FIVE. 

AFTER stating to His disciples that "of that day and that 
hour knoweth no man," the Lord said, "Watch ye there- 
fore; for ye know not when the Master of the house 
cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or 
in the morning; lest coming suddenly He find you sleeping. 
And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch." Mark 

^3-35-37- 

Satan is continually waging an active warfare against every 

soul. He is determined that no one shall accept Christ if he 

can possibly prevent it. Says the Scripture, "Wo to the 

inhabiters of the earth and of the sea ! for the devil is come 

down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that 

he hath but a short time." Rev. 12:12. As the Lord's coming 

draws nearer and nearer, Satan's time for working becomes 

shorter and shorter. And when "he knoweth that he hath but 

a short time," his "great wrath" is manifested by increased and 

cunning deceptions, in order that he may bind as many as 

(31) 



%2 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

possible for the "sudden destruction" that awaits the wicked 
world. By his Satanic arts he seeks so to engross the mind 
in the things of this life that the evidence of our Lord's coming 
will not be seen, even though that evidence stands out before 
the world as plainly as an unobscured and blazing light. But 
we are put on our guard against the deceptions of the great 
adversary by the ringing words, "Watch," "lest coming sud- 
denly He find you sleeping." 

The great necessity of watching when the closing days of 
time are reached, is repeated and emphasized in the Word of 
God. Only by constantly reading and giving heed to these 
warnings can we preserve a realizing sense of their importance. 
By the apostle Paul w r e are told that " then shall that Wicked 
be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of 
His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His 
coming; even Him, whose coming is after the working of Satan 
with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceiv- 
ableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they 
received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 
And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that 
they should believe a lie; that they all might be damned who 
believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." 
2 Thess. 2 :8-i2. 

Observe with care the warnings in the foregoing scripture. 
"The brightness of His coming," it is stated, "shall destroy" 
"that Wicked." And His "coming is after the working of 
Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all 
deceivableness of tmrighteousness in them that perish." The 
Lord's coming, then, we should be particular to observe, is 
"after" this deceptive working of Satan with such "power" 
and "deceivableness of unrighteousness." And it is in and 
through "them that perish" that Satan works. And it is all 
in consequence of the fact that "they received not the love of the 
truth, that they might be saved." 



WATCH YE THEREFORE. 33 

So, then, Satan works with power, but he masks himself by 
" deceivableness of unrighteousness." And this working of the 
enemy becomes fiercer and stronger as we near the end. And 
while Satan is working so powerfully, the Father in heaven is 
also sending out His great Gospel truth to save people from 
these deceptions and the consequent -destruction ; but some, as 
stated in this scripture, receive not "the love of the truth." 
The truth is presented to them ; they hear it, and are convicted 
by it. But they do not "love" this Heaven-sent message. 
They prefer to cling to their sinful lusts, and so they doom 
themselves to perish, and in doing this they become a channel 
through which Satan works his masterly deceptions. 

In this connection note the facts set forth in another scrip- 
ture : "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall 
come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, 
boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, 
unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, 
incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, 
heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of 
God ; having a form of godliness, but denying the power 
thereof; from such turn away. For of this sort are they which 
creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, 
led away with divers lusts, ever learning, and never able to 
come to the knowledge of the truth. 

"Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these 
also resist the truth ; men of corrupt minds, reprobate con- 
cerning the faith. But they shall proceed no further ; for their 
folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was." 
2 Tim. 3: 1-9. 

We are not left in darkness as to the time when the fore- 
going scripture applies. It is plainly stated that it is "in the 
last days" and in verses 2-5 are recorded the sins that are the 
occasion of these "last-day" "perils." Then in verse 8 we are 
told that "as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these 



34 



HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 



also resist the truth ; men of corrupt minds, reprobate con- 
cerning the faith." 

The ancient records of the Jews, as well as the history and 
traditions of many of the Eastern countries, preserve the names 
of Jannes and Jambres. They were two of the leading magi- 
cians, who, prompted by the spirit of Satan, were able to coun- 
terfeit for a time the miracles that by the power of God Moses 

wrought before Pha- 
raoh. Then let it 
again be observed 
that the text says: 
"Now as Jannes and 
Jambres withstood 
Moses, so \_i. e. } in 
like manner] do 
these also resist the 
truth." How clear 
the prophecy that 
just as Moses was 
withstood by the 
magicians in his day, 
so will the " truth" 
be resisted by "men 
of corrupt minds" amid the "perilous times" of the "last 
days"! In view of this, how full of importance is the Saviour's 
admonition to watch ! 

The deceptive working and power of the magicians in 
Moses' time was so great, and they were able to produce such 
marvelous counterfeit miracles, that the carnally-minded Pharaoh 
persuaded himself that their work was equal to that which was 
wrought by the Spirit of the living God. And in answering 
the question, "What shall be the sign of Thy coming, and 
of the end of the world?" Jesus makes prominent mention of 
the fact that "there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, 




" The . . . power of the magicians in Moses 1 
time was . . . great." 



WATCH YE THEREFORE. 35 

and shall show great signs and wonders ; insomuch that, if 
it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect." Matt. 
24:3, 24. 

Thus the never-failing Word of God places before us 
warning after warning against the deceptive, wonder-working 
power of the "false Christs and false prophets" that Satan will 
use in the "last days" to lure men into eternal ruin. How 
carefully, then, should we cherish the warning: "Take heed 
that no man deceive you. For many shall come in My name, 
saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many." Matt. 24:4, 5. 
We can not be too careful or too guarded ; for that fallen angel, 
who has given all his great powers for the whole six thousand 
years of this earth's history to the one work of deceiving 
mankind and leading them away from God, is making his last 
and most persistent effort to delude and destroy. 

God's Word faithfully unmasks all these delusions, so that 
we may recognize them as just what they are as fast as they 
appear. And by giving heed to the utterances of the divine 
Book, we may rest secure in the promises of our heavenly 
Father, and so escape every one of the snares of the enemy. 
To be ready to meet the Master at His coming should be our 
one great aim. For He loves us with an everlasting love; 
and His coming is for the purpose of destroying sin, with all the 
consequent curse, and taking all who receive Him to the perfect 
and eternal home. 

Since He has so fully manifested His love toward us, how 
can we slight His warnings against the great delusions of our 
time, and, turning away from the study of His Word and an 
abiding faith in what it says, be forever lost ? The Word of 
God, the blessed Bible, should be our trusted teacher and guide. 
"The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall 
slide." Ps. $j : 31. "Thy Word have I hid in mine heart, that 
I might not sin against Thee." "Thy Word is a lamp unto my 
feet, and a light unto my path." Ps. 119:11, 105. "Thou 



36 



HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 



wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee ; 
because he trusteth in Thee. Trust ye in the Lord forever ; for 
in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength." Isa. 26 : 3, 4. 

God's Word is filled with these "exceeding great and 
precious promises." Seek them out and feed upon them; for 
by so doing every peril may be seen and avoided. 





CHAPTER SIX. 



HAVING in a general way called attention in the pre- 
ceding chapter to the delusions and wonder-working 
power of Satan that will be manifested so marvelously 
in the "last days," it may be well to notice more particularly 
two or three of the deceptions against which we are especially 
warned in the Word of God. 

The following scripture will help us to understand what one 
of these delusions is: "And I saw three unclean spirits like 
frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the 
mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. 
For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go 
forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to 
gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty." 
Rev. 16:13, l 4- Here it is especially stated that the "spirits 
of devils, working miracles," go to the "kings of the earth and 
of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great 
day of God Almighty." Then when "that great day" is 
imminent, the "spirits of devils" will be "working miracles." 
Nothing could be plainer than the statement of this impor- 
tant fact. 

It is worthy of note that these "spirits of devils" go to the 
"kings of the earth," thus showing that they will seek to capti- 
vate the leading influential men of the world ; and, to accomplish 
3 (37) 



38 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

their design, they will have to present deceptive miracles, such 
as will arrest the attention of the most intelligent and best- 
educated classes. All such artfully-devised deceptions are in 
perfect harmony with the character of the wily foe. "And no 
marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light." 
2 Cor. 11:14. Satan would be at once rejected if he came in any 
other garb than that of "an angel of light." He is a deceiver, 
and the real character of his iniquitous plans must be so skilfully 
hidden that his snare will not be detected till his victim is hope- 
lessly, even though unconsciously, entangled in his net. 

Very forcible and clear concerning this great latter-day 
deception of Satan are the words of the apostle Paul: "Now 
the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall 
depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doc- 
trines of devils." 1 Tim. 4:1. Here is an expression from 
the Lord that is given with emphasis. " The Spirit speaketh 
expressly;" and we should pay careful attention to the divine 
message so " expressly " given. Observe that it is in the "latter 
times''' when this departing from the faith, and "giving heed to 
seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils," takes place. Now just 
as surely as this scripture is the truth of God, just so surely 
when the "latter times" are reached there will be, first, a 
departing from the faith, and, second, a "giving heed to seducing 
spirits, and doctrines of devils." 

To "depart from the faith" is to disbelieve or reject the 
plain words of the Bible. For "faith cometh by hearing, and 
hearing by the Word of God." It is the "Word" of God, 
then, that we are to hear ; and it is by hearing this Word that 
faith comes. Hence he who departs from the faith must first 
either neglect or reject the Word of God. It is not necessary 
openly to express infidelity in order to effectually reject God's 
divine Book. If by human interpretations, explanations, and 
mystifications that Book is allowed to be so completely covered 
up that it is no longer the direct voice of God to the soul, the 



GREAT DECEPTIONS. 39 

Bible is as verily driven from the mind as if one were an out- 
and-out infidel. Explanations or criticisms that cast doubt 
upon the Word of God, and that lead men to believe that it 
does not mean what it clearly says, inevitably cause them to 
depart from the faith, and the way is thereby opened for the 
next step, which is the " giving heed to seducing spirits, and 
doctrines of devils." 

It is left to the reader to answer the question for himself 
if either the pulpit or religious press, with but few exceptions, 
is to-day teaching the pure Word of God in the "demonstra- 
tion of the Spirit and of power," as was once the case. The 
Word predicts a departing from the faith in the "latter 
times." It is the boast of men to-day that "this age has 
outgrown many of the things taught in the Bible," and they 
call it an indication of great intellectual advancement. But, 
instead, it is a sure sign that we are in the time when "some 
shall depart from the faith," — a positive evidence that the 
"latter times" are reached. Every true believer in the Word 
of God will know this now, and all others will be forced to 
acknowledge it soon. ~-—^ ^ 

And it should also be carefully observed that this departing 
from the faith is followed by "giving heed to seducing spirits, 
and doctrines of devils." It could not be otherwise. For when 
men fail to heed the Bible, which exposes all the deceptions of 
Satan, of course he will then drive them headlong into his 
snares. The great extent to which these wonder-working 
deceptions will be carried may best be expressed in the words 
of the prophet: "And he doeth great wonders, so that he 
maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight 
of men, and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the 
means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight 
of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they 
should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a 
sword, and did live." Rev. 13:13, 14. 



40 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

Reader, what think you ? If you should see a power working 
such a miracle as making "fire come down from heaven," would 
it not be quite convincing to you? But be on your guard. 
God, in the clearest and most direct language, is warning you 
against these " spirits of devils" that "go forth unto the kings 
of the earth and of the whole world," exhibiting their miracle- 
working power. How needful for us, then, in these times of 
peril, to cling close to the mighty Rock, so that no masterpiece 
of the enemy's deceptions may overthrow us ! 

Of course the miraculous power that makes this great 
display, even causing fire to "come down from heaven," has 
not yet been reached. But the "consulter with familiar spirits," 
who, as we shall presently see, is acting directly contrary to the 
Word of God, is to be found everywhere, and is seeking to 
convince all that there are "great wonders" wrapped up in 
Modern Spiritualism. "Only honestly investigate," say they, 
"and you must be convinced." A representative statement 
upon this point may be quoted from a leading minister in 
Boston, who recounts his experience with Spiritualism. After 
telling, through the columns of a leading magazine, what he had 
seen the mediums do, he says: " Here are most wonderful facts. 
How shall they be accounted for?" The prophet's prediction 
is that he "doeth great wonders." And how literally is it 
fulfilled in the "wonders" presented by the modern spirit 
medium, and in the most highly educated men regarding them 
as " wonderful facts" ! 

The "leading thinkers" at first regarded Spiritualism as 
nothing more than artful trickery. The "rappings," "table- 
tippings," etc., of fifty years ago were done with lights turned 
down, and there was much room for the assertion that it was 
all a sleight-of-hand performance; but now this same thing is 
done in open day, or under the glare of the evening lamp. 
All minds, however, are not alike, and hence every person can 
not be convinced by this one kind of spiritualistic manifes- 



GREAT DECEPTIONS. 41 

tation. Telepathy and hypnotism and mind-reading seem 
more " scientific," and some of the educated are attracted to 
Spiritualism through these channels. A still larger class are 
attracted to the mediums because of the assurance that through 
them they can hold communion with their dead friends. And 
so we might go through the list of the many ways that this 
many-sided Spiritualism has for attracting all into its bewitching, 
entrancing net. 

Satan is very cunning in his deceptions, and does not bring 
forward at first his greatest marvels. But by degrees, and with 
numerous devices, he advances. The illiterate and superstitious, 
and even some who are well educated, are easily ensnared by 
"rappings" and the like. Others have to be taken in a more 
subtle snare. But in one way and another he is advancing, 
producing greater and still greater "wonders," and myriads in 
all the walks of life are being drawn into the snare. In this way 
Spiritualism is stealthily gaining influence, preparatory to the 
master deception of Satan, when he "maketh fire come down 
from heaven on the earth in the sight of men." Rev. 13:13. 

Satan " knoweth that he hath but a short time." He also 
knows the prophecies that tell so vividly of that splendid scene 
when the Son of man shall appear in such dazzling glory; and 
hence deceptions are prepared to represent flaming fire in the 
heavens, and this "fire" comes down "on the earth in the 
sight of men." Thus he will seek to beguile the very ones who 
are following the Bible the most closely, and who are looking 
for the coming of their Saviour in glory. Who can withstand 
this great culminating deception, unless securely fortified against 
it by the Word of God and a daily experience in following the 
leadings of the Light of the world ? But we have the never- 
failing promise of our heavenly Father that none can be 
deceived who rely in faith upon the sure foundation. 

The prophet Isaiah, speaking in regard to those who have 
familiar spirits, says: "And when they shall say unto you, 



42 



HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 



%&£ 



Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards 
that peep, and that mutter; should not a people seek unto their 
God? for the living to the dead? To the law and to the 
testimony; if they speak not according to this word, it is 
because there is no light in them." Isa. 8:19, 20. Every one 
knows that there is scarcely a corner of the whole world in 
which may not be found the individual who has "familiar 
a spirits" hovering about him. The 

"spirit medium" is now in nearly 
every neighborhood ; and thousands 
of individuals who a few years ago 
scoffed at Spiritualism, considering 
it a superstition of the most igno- 
rant, are embracing it to-day as a 
"wonderful" truth. More than 
twenty millions are claimed as be- 
lievers in, and consulters with, 
these "familiar spirits." And if the 
exact statistics could be obtained, 
doubtless it would be disclosed that 
a much greater number are in the 
toils of this delusion. 

There is nothing that the Word 
of God more forcibly condemns 
than resorting to "them that have familiar spirits." "Regard 
not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, 
to be defiled by them ; I am the Lord your God." Lev. 
19:31. "There shall not be found among you any one that 
maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or 
that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, 
or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or 
a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an 
abomination unto the Lord." Deut. 18:10-12. Clearly those 
who "have familiar spirits" are not to be regarded, and, further, 
they are "an abomination unto the Lord." 







"A charmer, 
. . . a wizard, 
or a necromancer." 



GREAT DECEPTIONS. 43 

No additional evidence need be given to show that Spirit- 
ualism — which is "seeking unto familiar spirits" — is forbidden 
by the Word of God, and is a deception of the evil one. Little 
do men in general realize what Satan is doing, as in every 
corner of the world he is so busily entangling the feet of such 
vast multitudes in the enticing net of Modern Spiritualism. 
Reader, review again, and again, and again, the warnings that 
God has given against the delusions of the enemy, prepared 
under his deceptive hand for these last days ; and do not forget 
that the Master has said that His coming is "after the working 
of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders," and that 
His earnest admonition is, "What I say unto you I say unto 
all, Watch." 

THE CRY OF PEACE AND SAFETY. 

Next to this crowning delusion of Spiritualism prepared by 
Satan for these last days, perhaps there is no worse deception 
than the soothing doctrine of "peace and safety," that in our 
day is proclaimed by so many pens and voices. 

The Word of God says, "All that will live godly in Christ 
Jesus shall suffer persecution." 2 Tim. 3:12. This statement 
is direct, and no one who regards it will be found preaching 
"peace and safety" to the Christian so long as he remains in 
this present world of sin. For it is said that "all" not a part 
merely, but "all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer 
persecution." Another text says, "In the world ye shall have 
tribulation." It is only "in Me," the Master assures us, that 
we shall have "peace." John 16:33. 

The startling fact confronts us that the Christian church 
has ceased almost entirely to suffer persecution. And instead 
of this being a cause of rejoicing, as it is with many, it should 
open our eyes to see that godliness "in Christ Jesus" has 
largely died out from the hearts of the professed Christians of 
to-day. All will agree that the Bible plainly teaches that there 



44 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

should be a clear-cut distinction between the church and the 
world; but does not observation impress each one's inner 
consciousness with the thought that our churches to-day are 
courting, and in turn being courted by, the devotees of this 
sinful life ? 

Read further from the Word of God: "This know also, 
that in the last days perilous times shall come." And again: 
"Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, 
and being deceived." 2 Tim. 3 : 1, 13. In what startling con- 
trast to the words of "peace and safety," so commonly heard, 
do these Scripture texts strike the ear ! The great mass of 
teachers to-day are saying that the world is getting better and 
better, and that good times are ahead. But the infallible 
Word says the exact opposite. In no uncertain or ambiguous 
language are we told that "evil men and seducers shall wax 
worse and worse," and that "in the last days" not good but 
"perilous times shall come." 

The Word further states upon this point that "as the days 
of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." 
Matt. 24:37. What the condition of things was in "the days 
of Noah" is made very plain in the Bible. It says, "God saw 
that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that 
every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil 
continually." Gen. 6 : 5. All who, under the spell of the 
enemy, are being captivated by the belief that the world is 
rapidly getting better, should ponder these texts well. Our 
God reads the future, and He has given us a faithful portrayal 
of the true condition of things in the last days. The enchant- 
ments of a cunning foe may cause us to seem to see what does 
not exist, but we should believe the Word of God, no matter 
how dazzling may be the presentations to the contrary. 

He with whom it is impossible to err has plainly told us 
that in the days when we are to be looking for the coming of 
the Son of man, as in the days of Noah, "the wickedness of 



GREAT DECEPTIONS. 45 

man" shall be "great in the earth, and that every imagination 
of the thoughts of his heart" shall be "only evil continually." 
Since God has so directly spoken, who can assume to set aside 
His declaration by teaching the "peace-and-safety " fable that 
the world is growing better instead of "worse and worse," as 
the Word declares ? 

How can we fail to see that Satan has already so completely 
soothed the world with his lullaby of "peace and safety" that it 
is well-nigh asleep? And while the sensibilities of many are 
being stupefied by this false doctrine, so that they will refuse to 
hear the ringing words of divine truth, the net of Spiritualism 
is being subtilely spread to complete the ruin of the drowsy 
world. 

Reader, will you not heed the earnest and faithful warnings 
of the Lord's Word? The heavenly Father has laid the 
deceptions of the enemy so bare that we can not stumble into 
his pitfalls while we are guided by Him who is the "Light 
of life." 

"Behold, I stand at the door, and knock; if any man hear 
My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will 
sup with him, and he with Me." Rev. 3:20. 

" My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they 
follow Me; and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall 
never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My 
hand. My Father, which gave them Me, is greater than all; 
and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand." 
John 10:27-29. 




CHAPTER SEVEN. 

HE preceding chapters are de- 
voted to a review of the prom- 
ises of the second advent of 
our Saviour, together with the Scripture warnings against the 
deceptions of Satan, with no attempt to present the evidence 
that the great day of the Lord's coming is near at hand. Many 
promises are left on record telling us that the Master will 
return in person, and none in all the Bible are made more 
prominent than the assurance that Jesus will come "in the 
clouds of heaven," attended by "all the holy angels." He Him- 
self tells us that we should "know that He is near, even at the 
doors," and His apostle declares that "ye, brethren, are not in 
darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief." In 
view of these direct and positive statements, we may be sure 
that the evidences pointing to the tokens of His coming are 
abundant and clear. 

Some of the evidence that God has given by which we 
may discern the approach of the end of time, is in the form 
of connected chains of prophecy, the understanding of which 
(46) 




requires a knowledge of his- 
tory. But all do not become 
historians, and therefore 
some may not understand such prophecies; but other evidence 
that all must see, and that every one may understand, is given 
by our heavenly Father. Every leading feature and condition 
of the closing days of time is strikingly pointed out. The 
Lord says we may "know that He is near," and for that 
reason the evidence of His coming will stand far above mere 
conjecture. Those who are without a knowledge of books, as 
well as the most learned, will be deeply impressed by the evi- 
dence all about them showing that the Lord is soon to return. 
Leaving to others the task of presenting the chains of 
prophecy that involve a knowledge of history, this and suc- 
ceeding chapters will be confined to a consideration of those 
evidences of His coming which may be seen in the world 
to-day, even by those who have been deprived of any particular 
education or mental training. With our eyes and hearts open 
to the Word of God as it discloses the meaning of the marvels, 

(47) 



4 8 




HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 







Overland in the 



the perplexities, and the dan- 
gers of this time, let us study 
some of these predictions of 
the inspired Word. 

We are living in an age 
that is most wonderful and re- 
markable. There have 
been such marvelous 
changes and develop- 
ments during the pres- 
ent century that the 
world of to-day would 
not be recognized at 
all by the men who 
lived and died here a hundred years ago. Even those who 
have been dead but fifty years, if brought to life now, could 
hardly be convinced that this is the planet on which they spent 
their lives. Just imagine their amazement as they would view 
our ''lightning express trains," our steamships, our electric 
lights, electric cars, telephones, telegraphs, twine-binders, sew- 
ing-machines, and all the rest of the endless procession of 
inventions and discoveries that the rushing activity of this gen- 
eration has produced. Do you ever stop to consider the 
marvelous changes and advancements of this time ? And have 
you not sometimes reflected on what it may signify ? 

The Scientific American celebrated its fiftieth anniversary 
by publishing in its issue of July 25, 1896, an outline history of 
the great advancement in the way of inventions and discoveries 
during the past fifty years. But in attempting the task the 
editor said : — 

"The material world has advanced so rapidly during the last 
half century, and with a pace so accelerated, that mankind has 
almost lost one of its most important faculties and one essential 
to happiness, — that of surprise. . . . The most marvelous 



THIS REMARKABLE CENTURY. 



49 



developments are taken as a matter of course. The condition 
of things fifty years ago is seldom pictured to the mind; and 
all the material blessings which we now enjoy are used as con- 
veniences of daily life, and no more. . . . Notwithstanding 
the pages of matter and quantities of illustrations, we feel that 
the task of telling about the progress of a lifetime can at the 
least be only inadequately performed — so much has been done." 

When we consider these wonderful inventions and discover 
ies, and take into account that these stupendous achievements 
have nearly all been made 
during the lives of men now 
upon the stage of action, 
well may we ask, What does 
it all mean ? Why were not 
some of these things in- 
vented in former ages? 
And why has the develop- 
ment not been more gradual? 
However, instead of any of 
these great inventions being 
made in former times, or there 
being a gradual development in 
this field during a succession of 
centuries, it remained for the 
last half of the nineteenth cen- 
tury suddenly to produce nearly all of this marvelous change. 

Again, it is urged that we should pause to inquire, What 
does it mean? And why have not the intellectual giants of 
former days discovered these things, or at least produced some 
of these modern inventions? An examination of the Scriptures 
will surely throw light upon the meaning of the unprecedented 
developments and marvelous inventions of this time. 

Our Lord is asked by His disciples, "What shall be the sign 
of Thy coming, and of the end of the world?" Matt. 24:3. 




Overland in the 'go's. 



50 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

In answering this direct question He gives, as one of the signs 
of His "coming," the fact that "this Gospel of the kingdom 
shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations ; 
and then shall the end come." Matt. 24: 14. Note how plain 
the Master makes His statement. "The end" will come when 
His "Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world!' 

But consider what a vast work it is to proclaim "this Gospel 
of the kingdom" to "a//." There have stood Africa, India, 
China, Japan, and all the rest of the countries of the far East, 
together with many isles of the sea, peopled with their untold 
millions of souls, who have seemed to be securely shut away by 
themselves. Satan, it has appeared, was successful in holding 
them back from any ray of Gospel light. But, nevertheless, 
the Lord has said that His "Gospel of the kingdom" is to go 
to every nation in "all the world." And when the time arrives 
for its accomplishment, every barrier is broken down, and God 
provides the means, marvelous in their vastness though they 
may have to be, by which His work is to be accomplished. 
Japan is loosed, the bands of China are broken, and the isles 
"wait for His law." 

It would hardly seem necessary to mention what modern 
inventions have done to promote travel and international com- 
munication, and how the hitherto secluded countries of the East 
have thereby been drawn into closer relations with the rest of 
the world. Some men may see in all this nothing more than a 
vast material progress. But the Lord has said, "This Gospel 
of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world," and how 
marked is His preparation for His world-wide work! The 
nations are being stirred. The shackles of that old exclusive- 
ness are being broken, and the inhabitants of every part of the 
globe are becoming acquainted with each other, preparatory 
to that great and final proclamation of "this Gospel of the 
kingdom." 

The very fact, as has been pointed out in preceding chapters, 



THIS REMARKABLE CENTURY. 



51 



that Christ has given His sure promise to come again, should be 
evidence to us that He will have that coming heralded to the 
ends of the earth. But we see that He does not leave us thus 
to conjecture. He tells us plainly that "this Gospel of the 
kingdom" shall be witnessed in all the world, and "then shall 
the end come." God has a time in mind when He will send 
His Son in person to earth again; and the signs foretelling the 
approach of that much-to-be-desired event must be given to 
every nation, else they could not have the opportunity to "know 

that He is near." 

With some of the most 
populous nations groping 
in heathen darkness, and 
isolated from the Christian 
portion of the world, as 
they were seventy-five 
years ago, and with the 
means of travel and com- 
munication existing in 
those days, how could such 
a vast work be accom- 
plished? But God has 
promised to give the Gospel to every nation ; and to accomplish 
such an immense work we would expect to see correspondingly 
great facilities. 

And who can fail to see the marvelously great preparations 
that are even now being made? Those who are wholly absorbed 
in the things of this life may fail to note the grandly sublime 
plan that is now being worked out in the wonders of this age ; 
yet here are the facts in striking reality. We should not become 
so absorbed in the mere use of the unprecedented inventions 
and discoveries of our day as to lose sight of the divine purpose 
for which they are so wondrously bestowed upon the world. 

We should observe that the most notable, the most useful, and 




The Brooklyn Bridge. 



S2 



HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 



the most highly perfected of the inventions of this time are par- 
ticularly and peculiarly adapted to assist in giving the Gospel 
message to all the earth. The printing-press is a marvel of 
ingenuity and perfection. It has been developed until there is 
no limit to the printed pages that it may produce. Then, to 
carry this matter when printed, the "flying express" trains and 
the "ocean greyhounds" have been provided. In collecting 
the news and discussions of the world, the printing-press has a 
most potent companion, the electric telegraph, that simply anni- 
hilates time and space in despatching the doings and sayings of 

all the world to the editor's 
desk in the twinkling of an eye. 
The press — the mighty edu- 
cator — is doing its work. The 




The "Lucanw. 



fast mails are carrying its products to all the world. No one 
thing absorbs the efforts of the press more than the promulga- 
tion of the Gospel of the kingdom. Do you not see what it 
signifies ? 



THIS REMARKABLE CENTURY. 



53 



There can be no ground for doubt in regard to the meaning 
and purpose of the inventions and discoveries that have marked 
this generation as the wonder of all ages. But read another 
direct prophecy upon 
this point: " But thou, 
O Daniel, shut up the 
words, and seal the 
book, even to the 
time of the end; many 
shall run to and fro, 
and knowledge shall 
be increased." Dan. 
12:4. 

Observe closely 
how definite the 
prophecy is. The 
command is given to 
"shut up the words, 
and seal the book." 
But till what time 
are they thus "shut 
up" and "sealed"? — 
" Even to the time of 
the end." It will be noticed that the scripture does not say 
"the end," nor "the end of time," but "the time of the end;" 
that is, a brief period just before "the end," in which great and 
striking changes are to take place, by which we are to know 
that "the end" is fast approaching. That time is to be par- 
ticularly marked by the "many" who "shall run to and fro," 
and, further, by the fact that "knowledge shall be increased." 

We have only to look out upon the world to-day to see the 
fulfilment of this prophecy. Mankind has ever been inclined 
to move from place to place, but never before have there been 
such facilities for running "to and fro" as have been provided 

4 




The old-time ship. 



54 



HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 



in this generation. The persons are still living who tell us that 
they well remember when their journeying had to be done on 

foot, or on horse- 
back, or by the 
stage-coach. 
Hence of neces- 
sity men were 
quite closely con- 
fined to one local- 
ity. But how is 
it now? If it is 
desired to cross 
the continent, in- 
stead of the jour- 
ney requiring six 
months or more, 
as in the time of 
our fathers, we step 
on the " lightning 
express,'' and in 
four or five days 
are whirled from 
ocean to ocean. 
By the steel rail, 
traversed by the " flying" railway palace, every city, village, 
and hamlet is brought into speedy communication each with 
the other. To-day the dweller in New York or Boston speaks 
of a trip to Chicago or San Francisco about as our fathers talked 
of a journey to a neighboring village or an adjoining county. 

The improvement in travel by sea has been equally great. 
Fifty years ago a ship could accommodate only a few score 
passengers, while they slowly dragged across the ocean in 
"cramped, ill-lighted, and stuffy cabins" upon the old-fashioned 
sailboats or the primitive paddle-wheel steamers that were then 




Ocean liner leaving dock. 



THIS REMARKABLE CENTURY. 



55 



just coming into use. But to-day over thirteen hundred persons 
can have all the accommodations of a first-class modern hotel 
in one of our large 
ocean steamships, 
and they are car- 
ried in a few days 
from shore to 
shore across the 
expansive ocean. 
Thus the nations 
of all the world 
are brought to- 
gether as next- 
door neighbors. 

With these fa- 
cilities for travel 
by both land and 
sea, and with the 
great mass of our 
fellow-men who 
are continually 
going from place 
to place in pur- 
suit of business 
or pleasure, how 

literally is the prophecy being fulfilled that " many shall run 
to and fro"! Who can estimate the millions of people that 
are at this moment in motion on railway and steamship ? The 
Railway Age informs us that the railroad travel in the United 
States alone for the year 1897 was equivalent to thirteen billion 
persons traveling by rail one mile each. And it is readily seen 
from these enormous figures that enough traveling was done in 
this country during that one year to have given each of the 
seventy million men, women, and children residing here, a ride 




A great railway station. 



56 



HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 




of one hundred and eighty-five miles. Surely this age is most 
remarkable on account of the "many" that "run to and fro." 
And it should be borne in mind that the unerring pen of 

inspiration informs us that this is one 
of the signs which show that we are in 
"the time of the end." 

Further mention, however, should be 
made of the high state of perfection to 
which the printing-press has attained. 
For, as already intimated, it has been 
and ever will be a most potent factor 
in spreading "this Gospel of the king- 
dom." Although printing has been done 
for several hundred years, it remained 
for the last half of the nineteenth cen- 
tury to reduce it to one of the fine arts, 
and at the same time provide ingenious 
and rapid presses that are capable of 
printing several million pages of matter in a single day. The 
old "Franklin hand-press," with but few improvements and 
modifications, was the best that had been produced at the 
beginning of our century. But the first half of this century 
witnessed some very decided advancements in the printing- 
press. These improvements, however, were only prophetic 
indications of what was to be accomplished in the last forty 
or fifty years. l 

Franklin's press, which was decidedly useful and a great 
wonder in his day, stands now in the National Museum simply 
as a curiosity. Passing down the long list of improvements 
that have been made in the printing-press since Franklin's time, 
we are brought to something more marvelous by far than any 
of the famous "seven wonders" of the ancient world. We 
refer to the octuple press, invented by Richard M. Hoe. This 
most ingenious machine has a capacity for printing ninety-six 



The old "Franklin hand-press. 



This remarkable century. 



57 



thousand copies per hour, or sixteen hundred per minute, of any 
of the great eight-page daily newspapers. The paper is reeled 
cff a roll, and it travels through the press at the amazing speed 
of thirty two and one-half miles an hour. This is a fair speed 
for a passenger train. The press is constructed so that it prints 
both sides of the paper as it glides through, and an ingenious 
attachment automatically cuts apart, pastes, folds, and counts 
the papers. 
Two young 
men have to 
work quite 
briskly in 
taking the 
papers away 
from the 
press as they 
are printed. 

Imagine If |^H| ^y£^ 
Franklin's 
surprise if he 
were now 
wakened 
from his 
short sleep 
of a hundred 
years, and 
brought at 

once into the presence of this most wonderful perfecting press ? 
What would be his amazement to watch it, acting with all the 
precision and seeming intelligence of a human being, as it 
printed, cut, folded, and counted more papers per minute than 
the historic press he produced could deliver in a whole day ! 

Without these modern "perfecting" presses the "great 
dailies," some of them with a circulation of nearly a million 




"Imagine Franklin s surpi ise if he were now 
wakened." 




53 



HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 




ROBERT FULTON. 




SAMUEL F. B. MORSE. 




PETER COOPER. 



every twenty-four hours, and being fre- 
quently required to print over a million 
a day on special occasions, could not, 
at a merely nominal price, emanate from 
our large cities to greet the intelligent 
reading public of our time. And while 
speaking of the daily newspaper, we 
should also take into account the mod- 
ern facilities for printing and circulat- 
ing magazines, books, pamphlets, and 
tracts. With all these things before 
us, is it not forcibly impressed upon 
the mind that the preparation for plac- 
ing a knowledge of "this Gospel of 
the kingdom " before all the world in 
a very short time is most ample and 
complete ? 

But, notwithstanding the far-reach- 
ing possibilities of the printing-press, 
what could it accomplish if the great 
mass of the people were unable to read, 
as was the case a century or so ago ? 
And here, again, we may note, as one 
of the wonders of our time, the world- 
wide enthusiasm that is thrown into 
the work of educating all the people, 
at least so far as to enable them to 
readily read and write. The nation 
that does not provide a good common- 
school education for all of its common 
people is already marked to withdraw 
in disgrace from the marching columns 
of progress, while the individual who 
is not able to read at least in his native 



THIS REMARKABLE CENTURY. 



59 



tongue, is looked upon with pity, and 
often with disgust and reproach. 

Here, again, our minds are forcibly 
drawn back to the prophecy that at 
"the time of the end, many shall run 
to and fro, and knowledge shall be in- 
creased." How perfectly do the parts 
of this great prophetic structure come 
together ! The press prints the books, 
the magazines, the papers, in such 
abundance that all can have access to 
them, and then a mighty tidal wave of 
education places within the reach of 
all the people the ability and opportu- 
nity of reading them. 

And while considering the printing- 
press and its marvelous capacity for 
turning out the printed page, we should 
not lose sight of the most ample pro- 
vision that has been made for gather- 
ing intelligence from every nook and 
corner of the whole earth. It was on 
May 24, 1844, that the famous mes- 
sage, "What hath God wrought?" was 
suggested by Miss Ellsworth, and 
flashed by the electric current from 
Washington to Baltimore. And since 
that date the applied genius and busi- 
ness activity of such men as Morse, 
Edison, Delaney, Stearns, Field, 
Cooper, Huntington, and others, have 
not only threaded the several continents 
of our world with the electric telegraph, 
but have connected these continents by 




CHARLES GOODYEAR. 




SIR HENRY BESSEMER. 




C. H. M'CORMICK. 



6o 



HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 




JAMES WATT. 



the ocean cable, so that the inhabitants of the entire globe are 
made to seem to each other as dwellers of the same village; 
for the doings to-day of those living in 
the United States are cabled to the Old 
World at once, and may be read imme- 
diately in the columns of their daily 
papers; while an account of what is 
occurring in Europe, Asia, Africa, South 
America, and even far-off Australia and 
the islands of the sea, comes gliding 
over the wires to us, and we are read- 
ing all the doings of those distant lands 
in just a few moments after the deeds 
are done. 

The inspired words that were chosen as the first telegraphic 
message come vividly to mind again ; for we may well say, "What 
hath God wrought!" How marvelous indeed are the prepara- 
tions that the Lord has made to proclaim to all the world that 

most precious promise, "I will 
come again." And with all these 
modern facilities for communicat- 
ing knowledge, how literally will 
God fulfil His W T ord, "This 
Gospel of the kingdom shall be 
preached in all Ike world for a 
witness unto all nations." God 
has a precious message for "all 
the world." It is not a part 
merely that is to be reached; 
but all are to hear the welcome 
tidings that Jesus is coming again. 
And how impressive, how abun- 
dant, how perfect, are the preparations to give to all the good 
news of our Master's return ! The whole world, by means of 




THOMAS EDISON. 



THIS REMARKABLE CENTURY. 



61 




CYRUS W. FIELD. 



the railway, the steamship, the printing-press, and the telegraph, 

are brought into communication as one great assembly, and are 

now hearing the message from God's 
own Word that the Saviour is about to 
come. 

The facilities for carrying God's mes- 
sage being so abundantly prepared, we 
should begin to watch for the next step 
in the divinely complete plan. "This 
Gospel of the kingdom" will inevitably 
"come to the front, and become the 
theme of world-wide discussion, if neces- 
sary even through the contempt that is 

placed upon it." Every 

phase of God's great 

truth for these last days 

will be considered and 

reconsidered, and men 

will rapidly range them- 
selves on one side or 

the other of the great 

question involved. And 

when this intense dis- 
cussion reaches the 

point where it is an 

issue in every part of 

the globe, how swiftly 

will the Gospel do its 

work ! 

Until recently Spain 

was quietly moving 

along, attracting but 

little interest or attention outside her own borders. But no 

sooner is war declared with the United States than all the world 




Laying the Atlantic cable. 



62 



HERALDS 0E THE MORNING. 



becomes interested in the conflict. In both the Old World and 
the New the papers are eagerly sought every morning, and 
crowds watch the bulletin-boards all through the day to see 
what are the latest movements of the contending forces. The 

history of the 

^^ - ^i . • 

two countries 

is studied a- 
new ; the dust- 
covered geog- 
raphies and 
maps are 
brought out, 
and many who 




The combined harvester and thresher, 
drawn by traction engine. 



\$$fr. 



were not aware of the existence of the Canaries, the Ladrones, 
the Philippines, or the Carolines, are now familiar with the fact 
that they are islands that for many years have been under 
the dominion of Spain. 

Now, when the spark of divine power shall set all the 
modern agencies in motion, how swiftly must the Master's last 
great work be done! Those who have been unfamiliar with 
the Bible will learn of its contents; they will see the clear 
evidence that surrounds us showing that the Saviour is about to 



THIS REMARKABLE CENTURY. 



63 



return; and only a very short time will be required for each 
individual to come to the place where he will make his final 
stand for or against the Lord's Christ. 

Recalling again the prophecy of Dan. 12:4, let us observe 
still more closely what it says. The prophet states that "knowl- 
edge shall be increased," and it should not be overlooked that 
this is to be at "the time of the end." Now, while, in accordance 
with this scripture, we should expect to see knowledge in general 
increased, yet above all should we look for a movement that 
brings the Bible itself within the reach of every one. For it 
is the Bible that contains the message and promises of "this 
Gospel of the kingdom." And how strikingly marvelous are 
the facts concerning the vast number of copies of the Word 
of God that have been printed during the past few decades! 
Notwithstanding the interest that had been awakened in the 
Scriptures by the Reformation, the beginning of the present 
century found Bibles still so scarce, and the price so high, that 
but very few individuals could afford a copy of the sacred Book ; 
and oftentimes per- 
sons would walk 
miles to have an 
opportunity of 
hearing the Bible 
read. 




But in March, 
1804, the British 
and Foreign Bible 
Society was organ- | 
ized; the American >j 
Bible Society was 
founded in May, 

1816; and in connection with these two leading societies, hun- 
dreds of auxiliary societies have been formed, all with the 
one purpose in view of placing the Bible in the hands of all 



"Fifty years ago 
grain was ciit with 
cradle-scythe." 



6 4 



HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 



N 




1 The hammer, 
anvil, and forge. 



the people in both civilized 

and heathen lands. Through 

the combined efforts of all 

engaged in this work, the 

Bible, either entire or in 

parts, is now read in over 

three hundred fifty languages 

and dialects. It is being 

printed at the rate of six 

million two hundred fifty 

thousand copies a year; and 

over two hundred seventy- 
four million copies have been 

circulated since the British 

and Foreign Bible Society 

was organized, in 1804. 

For the first fifteen hun- 
dred years of the Christian era only a very few persons could 

afford a complete copy of the Bible. 

The Reformation came, however, 

and awakened a deep interest in it; 

and while men were able, with the 

crude printing facilities of those 

times, to produce a limited number 

of copies entire, yet they could not 

nearly supply the demand. The 

cost of printing and binding with 

the means at hand previous to this 

century was ever a strong barrier 

against placing the sacred Book 

in the hands of all the people. 

Then, too, the generous-hearted 

'Boots and *^r .V^^c^lK men had not yet arisen who 

shoes were ^ 'SKeSt^^' 111 1 • v 1 

slowly made by handy would devote their lives and 




THIS REMARKABLE CENTURY. 



65 



their fortunes to the work of giving the Bible to all, and in 
the familiar language of their native land. 

But, lo! "the time of the end" arrives; and by a touch of 
supernatural power the sleepy world that has been dreamily 



provements 
monotony, all 
Within the 



moving along, with but very few im- 
in its material life to break the tedious 
of a sudden becomes intensely agitated, 
short span of a single life- 
time the printing-press is 
brought to a marvelous 
perfection; the railway 
and the steamship within 
the same time are devel- 
oped to the point where 
they seem to carry us 
from place to place as on 
the wings of the wind; 
electricity conveys our 
thoughts from city to city 
and from continent to 
continent with the speed 
of lightning; and then 
the Word of God, which 
is the great fountain of 
knowledge, is printed by 
the million, and all these 
agencies spring forward to swiftly carry it to the nations and 
tongues of earth. 

How literal, how complete, how marvelous, is the fulfilment 
of that divine prediction that in "the time of the end" "knowl- 
edge shall be increased"! That Word which makes it possible 
for us to know the promise of the coming One; that W'ord 
which reveals to us the evidences by which we may know that 
we are in "the time of the end;" that Word which gives "this 
5 




The steam hammer at zvork. 



66 



HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 




' The simple 
needle and thim- 
ble were the implements 



Gospel of the kingdom;" that Word which is indeed a veritable 
larrip unto our feet, and a light unto our path, disclosing to our 

otherwise benighted vision what the 
marvels of our day really mean — 
that Word is now, by the multiplied 
millions, scattered in all the world. 
Those who have means may pur- 
chase it at the most reasonable 
prices, while the generosity of our 
great Bible societies has provided 
it " without money and without 
price" to those too poor or too 
indifferent to buy. God has surely 
done His part. He has fulfilled His 
prophetic promises so completely 
that we should be led in wonder 
and adoration to acknowledge their literal truth. 

While mentioning particularly the wonderful inventions of 
our time which make it possible that "many shall run to and 
fro," and that a "knowledge" of "this Gos- 
pel of the kingdom" may soon reach the 
remotest boundaries of earth, we must not 
overlook what has been accomplished in 
general in the great field of learning, dis- 
covery, and invention. It would 
be a wearisome task, however, 
even if space permitted, to make 
the merest mention of all that has 
been done. Vast and varied, almost 
beyond description, are the achieve- 
ments of this age. Yet the people 
are so intent on driving their busi- 
ness or reveling in their pleasures that they are scarcely con- 
scious of the surpassing realities of to-day. 




' To-day she has a 
machine." 



THIS REMARKABLE CENTURY. 



67 




Our stockings were knit, by hand. 



A few contrasts will perhaps serve best to bring the condi- 
tions and attainments of this time vividly before the mind : — 

Fifty years ago the simple needle 
and thimble were the implements with 
which the housewife did her sewing; 
to-day she has a machine to do this 
work for her. 

Fifty years ago our stockings were 
knit by hand; to-day a girl with her 
knitting-machine can knit more stock- 
ings in a day than a whole neighbor- 
hood of women could have done in 
those times. 

Fifty years ago all our grain was cut 
with sickle or cradle-scythe, and our hay mowed by hand; 
to-day the farmer has his mowing-machine, and that marvel of 
modern ingenuity, the combination reaper and twine-binder, 
and the combined harvester and thresher. 

Fifty years ago our mothers and sisters took the wool and 
flax, spun the thread, and wove the cloth that made our clothes ; 
now the spinning- .^ wheel and hand-loom are relegated 
to the curiosity- shop, and the steam loom, with its associ- 

ated machinery, is doing the work. 
Fifty years ago the carpenter 
had to plane his boards, match 
his flooring, make his doors, sash, 
and, in fact, get out practically 
everything by hand; now a great 
variety of wood-working machin- 
ery does about all his work for 
him, with accuracy and work- 
manlike beauty. 
Fifty years ago the hammer, anvil, and forge were the prin- 
cipal instruments for making things from iron; but the forge 




The knitting machine. 



HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 




'Fifty years ago all our writing was 
done with the pen.'''' 



and anvil have only a modest 

and obscure corner in the mod- 

.. .^ ern shop, while numerous kinds 

( J wlSB HB BiaEl£^ir ~"i - * of iron-working machines are 

: ^t*I oilsttsK rolling- out the work. 

ft WwwP^pW Fifty years ago, with ham- 

mer, awl, last, and pegs, our 
boots and shoes were slowly 
made by hand; to-day machin- 
ery makes our foot-wear with a 
speed and deftness that are truly 
amazing. 

Fifty years ago all our writing was done with the pen; 
to-day the typewriter does it much more neatly and rapidly. 

Then we spent our evenings in the dim light of the tallow 
candle; now the kerosene lamp, gas, or electric light transforms 
darkness into almost the brilliant light of day. 

But, not to make this comparison tedious, it may be said in a 
word, Let the progress of the 
past fifty years be destroyed, and 
we would have taken from us 
practically such other inventions 
and discoveries as the tele- 
phone, cable and electric street- 
cars, vulcanized rubber goods, 
photo-engraving, photo-litho- 
graphing, the kodak, the gas 
engine, the passenger elevator, 
asphalt pavement, the steam 
fire-engine, the triple-expansion 
steam-engine, the GifTord inject- 
or, celluloid, barbed-wire fences, 
time locks for safes, kerosene 
oil and gas wells, machines for 




' To-day the typewriter 
does it much more . 



rapidly.'" 



THIS REMARKABLE CENTURY. 



69 




" The dim light of 
the tallow candle." 



making ice, the phonograph, the graphophone, 
stem-winding watches, the great suspension 
bridges, steel-frame buildings, ironclad war ships, 
revolvers, breech-loading guns, magazine guns, 
Gatling guns, machine guns, torpedoes, linotype 
machines, the knowledge of microbes and disease 
germs, together with a myriad of other things 
in the medical line, discoveries without number 
in the general field of science, air brakes, nitro- 
glycerin, acetylene, dynamite, guncotton, Besse- 
mer and Harveyized and Krupized steel, the 
motorcycle, argon, etc., etc., etc. It is useless 
to enumerate further. So great has been the 
activity in this field of invention and discovery; 
so vast have been the achievements in the "increase of knowl- 
edge," that the mind becomes weary in contemplating the end- 
less array. 

And the remarkable part of it all is that men still living can 
trace from memory all these great 
changes and developments that 
center in this wonderful age. Mr. 
Edward W. Byrn, A. M., has well 
said that "the past fifty years rep- 
resent an epoch of invention and 
progress unique in the history of 
the world. It is something more 
than a merely normal growth or 
natural development. It has been 
a gigantic tidal wave of human 
ingenuity and resource, so stupen- 
dous in its magnitude, so complex 
in its diversity, so profound in its 
thought, so fruitful in its wealth, 
so beneficent in its results, that 
5 




---,//»- v 



The carpenter had * 

to . . . get out practically everything 

by handy 



JO HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

the mind is strained and embarrassed in its efforts to expand 
to a full appreciation of it. Indeed, the period seems a grand 
climax of discovery, rather than increment of growth. 
The negative conditions of that period extend into such an 
appalling void that we stop short, shrinking from the thought 
of what it would mean to modern civilization to eliminate from 
its life those potent factors of its existence." 

Standing in full view of all these things, can there be any 
doubt but that we are in the "time of the end"? "Many" do 
indeed "run to and fro," "knowledge" is "increased" in our 
day, and right before our eyes, until it stands out in such 
gigantic proportions that the mind is dazed and bewildered in 
the effort to grasp what has been achieved by this generation. 
Nor can there be any doubt that the Master has made ample 
provision to have "this Gospel of the kingdom preached in all 
the world for a witness unto all nations." And just as soon as 
the world hears the joyful message of " His glorious appearing," 
"then shall the end come." 

That gladdest of all glad days is almost here. On every 
hand may be seen and heard the heralds of the morning. And 
by every one of these heralds we are invited to get ready to sit 
as joyful guests at the "marriage supper of the Lamb." The 
invitation is now being proclaimed in all the world; and it 
reads, "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him 
that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. 
And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." 
Rev. 22 : 17. 

All are invited guests. Will not you allow the sinner's 
Friend, your Saviour, to robe you in the wedding garment 
for that feast? "In Thy presence is fulness of joy; at Thy 
right hand there are pleasures forevermore." Ps. 16:11. 




ffiiFfS' 



CHAPTER EIGHT. 



THE developments that mark this as the most wonderful 
age of all time are well known ; but men are generally so 
intent in observing and enjoying the material advance- 
ment that has been made that they do not realize that this 
century has been as wondrously marked by its missionary 
operations as by its advancement in discovery and invention. 
Notwithstanding the fact that the Reformation of the six- 
teenth century was one of the greatest periods of spiritual 
activity in the church since the days of the apostles, yet there 
was connected with it no suggestion or movement worthy of 
mention, in the direction of carrying the Gospel to the outlying 
heathen lands. The burden of the Reformers seemed to be 
to urge the saving Gospel upon the church itself; for the 
professed Christianity of that time was so formal and dead, so 
spiritually blind and ignorant, and so full of superstition, that it 
really stood on a level with, if not below, the non-professing 
heathenism of India, China, and Japan. 

The importance and necessity of sending missionaries to the 
countries where the Gospel light had not gone, was suggested 
by individuals at different times, and urged upon the attention 
of the church ; but the way was not yet opened for this work to 
begin in earnest. God did not have either agents or agencies 
prepared; for mankind had sunk so low that several centuries 

(71) 



72 



HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 



of the full blaze of Gospel truth were needed to fit them for 
the work of evangelizing the heathen world. Such missionary 
efforts as were put forth during the seventeenth and eighteenth 
centuries partook in too many instances of the forceful methods 
that were employed in the darker ages. Speaking of some of 
the missionaries of the seventeenth century, a historian tells us : 
"We know that unevangelical means were soon employed, as 
in Ceylon, where the Dutch governor made the tenure of even 
the lowest governmental position, and even the governmental 

protection, con- 
ditional upon 
signing the 
Helvetic Con- 
fession. Thou- 
sands pressed to 
baptism, which 
was denied to 
no one who 
could repeat the 
Lord's Prayer 
and the Ten 
Command- 
ments." 

Thus the greater part of the missionary work that was at- 
tempted in those times partook more of the nature of politics 
than of the presentation of the pure, free, saving Gospel of 
Jesus Christ. 

But during the latter part of the eighteenth century the 
Wesleys, Whitefield, and others were doing their mighty work. 
The voyages and discoveries of Captain Cook imparted a new 
interest to what seemed then to be the "far-away" portions of 
the world, and to the islands of the sea as well. When the 
nineteenth century entered upon its altogether unprecedented 
career, Andrew Fuller, William Carey, John Williams, Judson, 




Bible House, New York. 



THE GOSPELS PROGRESS. 73 

and numerous other devoted missionaries, with earnestness 
and intelligent zeal, and the throbbings of Christian love, stood 
ready to plant the banner of the cross in every dark corner of 
the inhabited globe. 

As those devoted men, with their no less devoted wives, 
entered upon their great work, observe how rapidly God moved 
upon other minds to prepare the needed facilities for carrying 
"this Gospel of the kingdom" with rapidity into "all the world," 
for a "witness unto all nations." While Carey, Judson, and 
Williams were planting the banner of the cross in the very 
strongholds of the barbarous and heathen lands, Charles, and 
Farn, and Hughes, and Steinkoph, and Owen, and Wilberforce, 
and Mills, and Boudinot, with many others, were laying the 
broad and deep foundations for the British and Foreign and 
the American Bible Societies. 

As late as 1777, while the Revolutionary War was in prog- 
ress, Congress was memorialized to print thirty thousand Bibles 
to supply the demand. But a lack of both paper and type 
made it impossible for this work to be done; so the Committee 
on Commerce was empowered to import from Holland, Scot- 
land, or elsewhere, twenty thousand copies, at the expense of 
Congress. But they were also unable to carry out this scheme. 

In 1794, at the age of ten, Mary Jones, a little Welsh girl, 
began to lay by all the money she could possibly save, with 
which to purchase a Bible. In 1800, after six years of careful 
saving, she found herself in possession of the required sum. 
She walked twenty-five miles to Bala, the residence of Rev. 
Thomas Charles, to whom she had been directed, "When she 
first applied to Mr. Charles, and was told that the few copies 
he had were reserved for persons who had already made appli- 
cation for them, she burst into tears and sobs. The fond hope 
of years seemed to be blasted in a moment. These evidences 
of her sad disappointment led Mr. Charles at length to say, 
'My dear child, difficult as it is to spare you one, it is impos- 



74 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

sible — yes, simply impossible — to refuse you.' And so she 
obtained the Bible, which, for the sixty-six remaining years of 
her life, was her most cherished possession." 

This was the condition a hundred years ago in the British 
Isle, the very home of Bible houses and Bible societies. Eight- 
een hundred years of the Christian era had passed away, and 
still the vital germs of Gospel truth had been so combated by 
the gross darkness of superstitious error that it was with the 
greatest difficulty and sacrifice that one of God's children could 
procure a copy of His Word. 

Bibles in those times, neither in this country nor abroad, 
were supplied in sufficient quantities or at a price low enough 
for the poor to possess copies of the Sacred Word. But the 
Bible societies that sprung into existence during the first two 
decades of the nineteenth century were not long in providing 
facilities for placing the Bible in every home of the whole wide 
world. In 1806 the British and Foreign Bible Society was able 
to send its first wagon-load of Bibles into Wales. " It was 
received like the ark of the covenant; and the people, with 
shouts of great joy, dragged it into the city." But to-day car- 
load after car-load is shipped from the storerooms of our great 
Bible societies, and Wales is not alone in rejoicing over supplies 
of the Book of books. 

Missionaries have gone to many heathen tribes that had no 
literature, and consequently no written language. These faith- 
ful messengers of the Gospel have patiently labored until they 
have reduced these tribal dialects to a written speech, and then 
have translated the Scriptures into the words that these people 
can comprehend. And now in every nation, also in the islands 
of the oceans, in over three hundred fifty languages and dialects, 
the Bible is being furnished by millions of copies. Over ninety 
million dollars have been expended by our Heaven-appointed 
Bible societies during the nineteenth century in giving the 
Scriptures to those who were destitute of the true riches offered 
in the divine precepts and promises. 



THE GOSPELS PROGRESS. 



75 




'mmmxmm 

mmMM 



What an undertaking it was thus to give the Word of God 
to all the world! And how miraculous is the success with 
which it has been performed ! All through the dark centuries 
indestructible and all-powerful truth was only waiting for a 
sufficient soil to be prepared in which to find a lodgment ; and 
then, towering up in its stupendous proportions, it outstrips all 
the marvels of all the ages. 

These favorable conditions were not reached, however, until 
"the time of the 
end;" but that time 
having arrived, the 
whole world is 
stirred to perform 
God's great work. 
The teaching of the 
Man of Nazareth 
and Galilee 
pi ows its 
way through 
mental rub- 
bish that is 
piled centu- 
ries high. 

The light of the eternal day breaks in upon longing hearts in 
England, in Germany, in Switzerland, and the Gospel enters 
upon its civilizing, liberating, and elevating work that is to 
reach "every nation" in "all the world." Bible societies spring 
up, and millions of copies of the Sacred Volume are speedily 
prepared. The poor seeker after divine truth need no longer 
walk twenty-five miles with the careful savings of six long 
years, only to be well-nigh disappointed in securing the valued 
treasure. No, indeed ! Missionaries, with their hearts all 
aflame with love for their unfortunate fellow-creatures, gather 
up the stream of Bibles that pours from the press, and every 




•rmminnsJEani 

British and Foreign Bible Society's Building, London. 



76 



HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 



corner of the world is visited, and the Book of books is offered, 
yea, urged upon all. 

Carey was not afraid to encounter hardships in carrying the 
Gosoel to India; courageous John Williams did not hesitate to 

plant the standard of the 
cross on the cannibal is- 
lands of the Pacific; Robert 
Morrison left his friends 
and native land behind 
him while he went to 
China, and devoted his life 
to giving the Scriptures 
to that people in their 
native tongue; and Japan, 
after a hard struggle, in 
"j j | which many devoted Chris- 
tian men and women have 
lost their lives, has opened 
her doors to receive the 
Word of God, the mes- 
senger of eternal truth and 
peace. Thus nation after nation, island after island, have been 
entered, until nearly the whole world has the Scriptures of truth. 
"This Gospel of the kingdom" will soon be proclaimed in all 
the earth, and "then shall the end come." 

Do we hear it said that it is just a coincidence that the 
nineteenth century should be the great century of missionary 
activity; that it should be the great century of Bible societies; 
that it should be the great century of the printing-press, so that 
these Bible societies can have the Sacred Book in quantities 
that are inexhaustible; that it should be the great century of 
the railroad, so that missionaries can visit every family in 
every country place, hamlet, village, and city; that it should 
be the great century of the steamship, so that every outlying 




Corner in Bible storeroom— British and Foreign Bible 
Society. 



THE GOSPELS PROGRESS. 



77 



habitable island is reached; also that it should be the century 
of every other one of the multiplied wonders of this marvel- 
ous age ? 

Well, it may be best to acknowledge that this is indeed a 
coincidence; but back of all this stupendous array of coinci- 
dences there is the manifest working of the all-powerful hand 
of Divinity. Stop! Look around you! Is it not evident that 
"this Gospel of the kingdom" is doing its final witnessing in 
"all the world"? Is there not a prodigious "increase of knowl- 
edge," so vast in its proportions that even our quickened imag- 
inations can scarcely 
reach beyond it? 
These are some 
among the many 
heralds of the break- 
ing morn. 

Take time to 
think of it. The 
organized Bible so- 
cieties alone have 
circulated over two 
hundred seventy- 
four million copies 
of the Bible in about 
nine decades of the 
nineteenth century. 
And they have trans- 
lated it into more 
than three hundred 
fifty languages and 
dialects. And, too, 
it should be stated that this does not include the large number 
of Bibles that have been printed and scattered by private firms. 
Surely these figures are significant in themselves alone. But 





British and Foreign Bible Society, Shanghai, China. 



78 



HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 



when seen in the light of God's prophetic Word, they speak 
in no uncertain language. 

"For the Word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper 
than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asun- 
der of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a dis- 

cerner of the thoughts 
and intents of the 
heart." Heb. 4:12. 
"Being born again, 
not of corruptible 
seed, but of incorrupt- 
ible, by the Word of 
God, which liveth and 
abideth forever. For 
all flesh is as grass, 
and all the glory of 
man as the flower of 
grass. The grass 
withereth, and the 
flower thereof falleth 
away; but the Word 
of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the Word which 
by the Gospel is preached unto you." 1 Peter 1 : 23-25. "For 
My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My 
ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the 
earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts 
than your thoughts. For as the rain cometh down, and the 
snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the 
earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed 
to the sower, and bread to the eater; so shall My Word be that 
goeth forth out of My mouth: it shall not return tmto Mc 
void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall 
prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. For ye shall go out 
with joy, and be led forth with peace; the mountains and 




Bible cart, Japan. 



THE GOSPEL S PROGRESS. 



79 



the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the 
trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn 
shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come 
up the myrtle tree; and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for 
an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off." Isa. 55:8-13. 
Such is the language of our heavenly Father's decree. His 
Word shall not return unto Him void. And just so surely 
as this is the decree of the Omnipotent One, so sure may 
we be that the present scattering of the Bible throughout the 
world is the seed-sowing of the "Gospel of the kingdom." 
This work is now well along. The Master says when it is 
finished, "then shall the end come." 

And what a glorious end that will be! It is not the end 
of joy, but the end of misery, and wo, and despair, and sin. 
While it is the end of all these things, it is also the beginning 
of the undisturbed bliss of that happy life the endless confines 
of which are the farther shores of the infinite eternity. What 
good news this is! Join in the chorus, and swell the song until 
every listening ear and waiting heart is reached. 




Bible boat, Siam, 




fiat mara) people jhallia 



9 




CHAPTER NINE* 

THE prophetic Word is explicit in telling us of the " increase 
of knowledge" at "the time of the end;" it also tells us 
of the closing triumphs of the Gospel as it is "preached 
in all the world for a witness unto all nations." There is a 
wonderful weight of evidence in those two predictions alone; 
but still further and more minute particulars are presented in the 
inspired Book. It is not by disconnected and meager evidence 
that we are shown that the great day of the Lord is near; but 
one after another the striking characteristics of the "last days" 
are pointed out. All may see these things and thus "know," if 
they so desire, "when He is near." 

It seems wonderful that God should have told hundreds of 
years ago just what many of the people would be saying in the 
last days; but such is the literal truth. Upon this point care- 
fully read the following scripture: — 

"And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain 
of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the moun- 
tains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall 
flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and 
let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the 
(80) 



WHAT MANY PEOPLE SHALL SAY. 8 1 

God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we 
will walk in His paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the 
law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He 
shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people; 
and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their 
spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword 
against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. O 
house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the 
Lord." Isa. 2 12-5. 

The first sentence in this scripture tells very plainly when 
the prophecy will be fulfilled. In the clearest and simplest 
language we are informed of what " shall come to pass in the 
last days." Now observe particularly that "many people shall 
go and say' certain things. Do not make the mistake of 
supposing that God says these things; for He does not. The 
Lord is simply telling us in advance what " many people shall go 
and say" "in the last days." 

The reader will observe that these people say, "Come ye, 
and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of 
the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we 
will walk in His paths; for out of Zion shall go forth the law, 
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." These words are 
spoken by professors of religion. They talk of going to the 
house of God, and of being taught of His ways. 

Continuing, these "people" say further of the Lord that " He 
shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people; 
and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their 
spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against 
nation, neither shall they learn war any more." The Lord 
does not tell us that these things that "many people shall go 
and say" are the truth. He simply tells us that they will say 
them, and also when they will say them. 

It shows that the heavenly Father can read the future 
perfectly when He tells twenty-five hundred years or more in 



82 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

advance even the sayings of the people in the last days. And 
this prophecy of Isaiah is repeated almost word for word by the 
prophet Micah in the fourth chapter of his book, thus showing 
that God revealed these same things to more than one of His 
prophets. 

Having learned in the foregoing paragraphs what the Lord 
tells us the people will be saying in the last days, and having 
produced some evidence in previous chapters to show that the 
last days are already reached, we proceed to look around us to 
ascertain if ''many people" are even now saying these things as 
predicted by the prophets Isaiah and Micah. 

To some extent a few men at different times in the past have 
taught that a universal peace and reign of righteousness would 
prevail on the earth in its present state, and that Christ would 
come in person to rule over a converted world. But we wait 
for the dawning of the present century before this doctrine 
becomes a characteristic belief of "many people." To-day you 
will hear men eloquently teaching that the age in which we live 
is the beginning of the great millennium. In the literal words of 
the prophet, they are saying that a universal peace will make 
swords and spears no longer a necessity, and that they will be 
beaten into plowshares and pruning-hooks. They are actually 
saying, just as the prophets said they would, "Nation shall not 
lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any 
more." When the second coming of Christ is mentioned as 
being very near, the readiest and most popular objection is 
that "the millennium must come first, and all the world be led 
through the highways of peace into the blissful state of universal 
righteousness." 

How literally are these teachers fulfilling the Word of God! 
Instead of their teaching being an evidence that a time has come 
when peace is to reign over all, and "nation shall not lift up 
sword against nation," it is one of the unmistakable tokens of 
the days in which we live; for are not these "many people" 



WHAT MANY PEOPLE SHALL SAY. &7, 

even now saying just what the all-wise Father said they would 
be saying when the end of time is at hand ? 

There can be no question but that thousands of those who 
have fallen into the snare, and are joining in these "last-day" 
sayings of the "many people," have taken up the delusion 
unwittingly, believing that it is the teaching of God's Word. 
But God's prophetic truth in regard to the condition of the 
world in the last days is the exact opposite of what the people 
in large numbers will be saying. How many are the errors 
and fatal deceptions from which men might be kept if they 
would only study the Bible with care! It should not be read 
superficially and only occasionally, but it should be constantly 
and closely studied; for as we study the Word faithfully, seeking 
to know only the truth, the heavenly Father sends His Spirit 
to be our unerring teacher. "Howbeit when He, the Spirit 
of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth; for He shall 
not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall 
He speak; and He will show you things to come." John 16:13. 

Returning to the second chapter of Isaiah, the reader is 
requested to give thoughtful attention to the words immediately 
following what the "many people " shall be saying. The Lord's 
words are: — 

" Therefore Thou hast forsaken Thy people the house of 
Jacob, because they be replenished ["filled with customs," R. V.] 
from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they 
please themselves in ["strike hands with," R. V.j the children of 
strangers. Their land also is full of silver and gold, neither 
is there any end of their treasures; their land is also full of 
horses, neither is there any end of their chariots; their land 
also is full of idols ; they worship the work of their own hands, 
that which their own fingers have made; and the mean man 
boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself; therefore 
forgive them not. 

" Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of 



84 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

the Lord, and for the glory of His majesty. The lofty looks 
of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be 
bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. 
For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that 
is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up, and he 
shall be brought low; and upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that 
are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan, and 
upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are 
lifted up, and upon every high tower, and upon every fenced 
wall, and upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant 
pictures. And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and 
the haughtiness of men shall be made low ; and the Lord alone 
shall be exalted in that day. And the idols He shall utterly 
abolish. And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and 
into the caves of the earth, for fear of the Lord, and for the 
glory of His majesty, when He ariseth to shake terribly the 
earth. In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his 
idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, 
to the moles and to the bats; to go into the clefts of the rocks, 
and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the Lord, and 
for the glory of His majesty, when He ariseth to shake terribly 
the earth. Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils ; 
for wherein is he to be accounted of?" Isa. 2:6-22. 

Particular and careful study should be given to every one 01 
these specifications. The thought of the reader will, however, be 
directed here to only a few of these remarkable utterances of Him 
who sees the end from the beginning. "Therefore Thou hast 
forsaken Thy people the house of Jacob;" "they please them- 
selves in the children of strangers;" "their land also is full of 
silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures;" 
"their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of 
their own hands." These words express God's estimate of the 
generation when " many " shall say that the time of universal 
peace and righteousness has come. How different is the picture 



WHAT MANY PEOPLE SHALL SAY. 85 

presented by the unerring One from that which "many people" 
would fain have us believe! 

Notice, further, what God says of the people in this time: 
"The mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth 
himself; therefore forgive them not." Yes, "the mean man 
boweth down," or, in other words, he is saying, as expressed in 
the third verse of this prophetic chapter, "Let us go up to the 
mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob." 
But though he goes to the house of God, he still remains a 
"mean man." He is a base hypocrite. He knows nothing in 
reality of the pure, unselfish Gospel of Christ that he professes 
to believe, and yet dishonors by his hypocrisy and deceit. 
There is no lack of professors. Even " the great man humbleth 
himself." When statistics are considered, there is an immense 
array of the vast number who are enrolled as the followers of 
Christ. But God's Word shows that this outward appearance 
is only a sham. The pure, unselfish character of the real 
Christ is left out of the lives of the greater part of this multi- 
tude of world-loving professors. It is the Word of God that 
presents these clearly-defined facts, and the reader's own obser- 
vation presses the conviction home upon the soul and conscience 
that God is true, and the "many people" to the contrary are 
wrong. 

The Father in heaven will be driven to the extremity of 
visiting dire punishment upon this base hypocrisy. "The great 
man" who "humbleth himself" in his deceitful pretensions of 
piety, and who, by lending his wide influence to the wrong, 
has led many more into the ways of error, will be overwhelmed 
beyond the powers of description by the waves of remorse that 
will break in upon his distressed and ruined soul. The best 
interests of these sinners themselves will not permit the Lord 
to allow them to continue in their evil course. There comes a 
time when divine forbearance no longer leads men to renounce 
the evil and turn into the pathway of righteousness, and then 



86 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

God must of necessity arise to put an end to the devouring 
plague of sin. 

Read again the warnings to these "many people" who in 
"the last days" shall be teaching "peace and safety" to the 
world, when their voices should be sounding the trumpet notes 
of truth. God says: — 

"Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of 
the Lord, and for the glory of His majesty. The lofty looks 
of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be 
bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. 
For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that 
is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and 
he shall be brought low. . . . And the idols He shall utterly 
abolish. And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into 
the caves of the earth, for fear-of the Lord, and for the glory of 
His majesty, when He ariseth to shake terribly the earth. In 
that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of 
gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the 
moles and to the bats; to go into the clefts of the rocks, and 
into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the Lord, and 
for the glory of His majesty, when He ariseth to shake terribly 
the earth." Isa. 2:10-21. 

How clearly and graphically does this bring us face to face 
with "the day of the Lord of hosts"! The scenes of that great 
day are vividly depicted. It is stated that men will then cast 
away their "idols of silver" and "idols of gold, . . . to go 
into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged 
rocks, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of His majesty, 
when He ariseth to shake terribly the earth." 

God's message to those living in "the last days" is surely 
very different from the doctrine of the conversion of the whole 
world and a universal peace. But bear in mind that for more 
than twenty-five hundred years the heavenly Father has been 
telling the world of the delusive teachings of this time. All 



WHAT MANY PEOPLE SHALL SAY. &J 

about us to-day is the multitude whose very words are a 
strikingly literal fulfilment of this remarkable prophecy. The 
Lord has taken pains to tell us these things in advance. He 
not only wants us to know when we are near the end of time, 
but He seeks to shield us from falling into the snare of following 
the "many people" rather than the Word of God. 

It is a most marvelous thing that in the providence of God, 
nearly the whole world to-day has His Word to read. It is 
also a marvel that so many who profess to believe that Word 
do not study it sufficiently to understand its teaching, and 
thus be saved from the deceptive doctrines against which 
such faithful warnings are given. There is, perhaps, no one 
thing that is more universally believed than that the world is 
to reach a time when every nation will be resting in a settled 
and abiding peace; and it is an equally world-wide notion that 
during this all-pervading peace every sinner will be converted 
to God. Bat if men would only read and believe the Bible, 
they would find that these sayings of the people are false. 
Instead of their leading us to look for good times in this life, 
we should see in them one of the striking signs that the day is 
at hand for the great and final destruction of the sin with which 
this world is deluged. Every one of the senses is impressed 
with the awfully increasing depths of crime and wickedness that 
are devastating our once fair earth; and the gathering of the 
greatest armies and navies that the world has ever dreamed of 
is no indication of a world-wide peace. 

A single parable of the Master is sufficient, if read and 
believed, to completely dispel this delusion of a universal peace 
and the world's conversion. The parable reads thus: — 

"The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which 
sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy 
came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. 
But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, 
then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the house- 



88 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

holder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good 
seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said 
unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said 
unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up ? 
But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye 
root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together 
until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to 
the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them 
in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn." 
Matt. 13:24-30. 

There need be no mistaking the lesson that this parable is 
designed to teach; for the Lord Himself interprets it in the 
following explicit words : — 

"His disciples came unto Him, saying, Declare unto us the 
parable of the tares of the field. He answered and said unto 
them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; the 
field is the world; the good seed are the children of the 
kingdom ; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; 
the enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end 
of the world; and the reapers are the angels. As therefore 
the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be 
in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth His 
angels, and they shall gather out of His kingdom all things that 
offend, and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a 
furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 
Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the king- 
dom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear." 
Matt. 13:36-43. 

Any one may understand this divine explanation of the 
parable. The wheat represents the good, and the tares the 
bad; both are to grow together till the harvest ; and the harvest 
is the end of the world. Those who give heed to these words 
of Christ, will have no room in their minds for a belief of the 
error, even though "many people" proclaim it, that this whole 



WHAT MANY PEOPLE SHALL SAY. 89 

rebellious, wicked world shall nestle in the folds of peace, while 
arrogant and defiant sin makes a voluntary and unconditional 
surrender. 

But, notwithstanding the plain evidence to the contrary, 
there will still be many who will continue to chant the fatal 
error. The thing for you and me is to believe the Bible, and 
seek to lead as many as possible from mistaking the sayings of 
a deluded people for the voice of the God of truth. 

An apostle also tells of some other things that the people 
will be saying in the last days. His words are as follows: — 

" Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days 
scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the 
promise of His coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all 
things continue as they were from the beginning of the crea- 
tion." 2 Peter 3:3, 4. 

The signs by which the heavenly Father designs that we 
may "know" when the end of time is at hand are appearing all 
around us. There are some who will see these tokens of the 
approach of the great day of God, and will urge them upon 
the attention of the people. • But instead of every one being 
good and a friend of the Messiah, and rejoicing at the thought 
of His return to earth, "there shall come in the last days 
scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is 
the promise of His coming?" 

Perhaps these very ones who are scornfully saying, "Where 
is the promise of His coming?" are professors of His name; 
for Isaiah has told us of the "mean man" who will be making 
pretentious visits to the house of God, while he is at the same 
time advocating pernicious errors. Those who would really 
follow the Master, must indeed be on their guard. When the 
scoffer is met, instead of being discouraged by his derision, try 
to win him from his errors and lusts. And never lose sight of 
the fact that those who cling to their sins and scofhngs, regard- 
less of all that divine love can do for them, serve to make up 



90 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

a part of the monumental evidence by which we "know" where 
we are in the stream of time. 

None but God could be so minute in describing the dis- 
tinguishing characteristics of a particular age; but see how 
definitely His Word delineates the many features that mark 
this time. Even things that the people will be saying are 
pointed out. What marvelous foreknowledge does the Lord 
possess ! 

You have heard the "many people" who are saying that 
"nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they 
learn war any more;" you have also observed how readily, and 
to what an extent, the scoffer is saying, "Where is the promise 
of His coming?" Nothing seems to be a more favorite subject 
of ridicule with many than the coming of the Saviour. You 
have observed these things. Possibly you may be among those 
who have been repeating these prophetic sayings. But did you 
ever consider that even these sayings of the people are among 
the unmistakable evidences that mark this time? 

The dawn of the eternal day is ready to break upon the 
world. Who can fail to see the signs that proclaim it? O, 
how necessary to prepare to stand at that time with those who 
sing the joys and the triumphs of the King of righteousness ! 





CHAPTER TEN. 



INSTEAD of peace and righteousness filling the earth before 
the coming of the Lord, the Bible evidence is all to the 

contrary. We have seen that "many people" are teaching 
the doctrine of a millennium of peace and goodness; but 
a careful examination of God's Word is the only means of 
reaching the truth. Men may falsify even when their intentions 
are good, but the Word of God makes no mistakes. Hear 
what it says : — 

"As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the 
days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they 
married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that 
Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed 
them all. 

"Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, 
they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; 
but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and 
brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus 
shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed." 
Luke 17:26-30. 

This scripture shows that the Saviour has selected the two 
most corrupt periods in the world's history as illustrative of 

(91) 



9 2 



HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 




11 The same day that Lot went out 
of Sodom.''' 



what we are to see "in the 
day when the Son of man 
is revealed." The evil con- 
dition of the world in "the 
days of Noah" is very 
clearly set forth in another 
scripture. Of that time it 
is said, " God saw that the 
wickedness of man was 
great in the earth, and that every im- 
agination of the thoughts of his heart 
was only evil continually." Gen. 6:5. 
Then in Noah's time, no matter 
what the views of the people may have 
been, "God saw that the wickedness of 
man was great in the earth." The 
alarming darkness of the picture is 
shown still more fully by the further statement that "every 
imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil contin- 
ually." Such was the condition in that time. And when men 
have sunk to so great depths in the pit of degradation that 
there is in the mind no pure and holy desire, when "every 
imagination of the thoughts" of the heart is "only evil" and 
that "continually" what could be worse? 

If we have been fondly cherishing a contrary view, it may 
not be pleasant at the outset to contemplate these facts ; but it 
is always best to be right first and above everything else, and 
in the end it will be seen that the way of truth leads to the only 
real happiness. Then do not forget that the Lord tells us that 
"as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of 
the Son of man." 

But we have not read all that is said of the wickedness in 
the days of Noah. It is further stated that "the earth also was 
corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And 



THE PREVALENCE OF CRIME A SIGN OF OUR TIMES. 



93 



God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt ; for all 
flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth." Gen. 6 : 1 1, 12. 

"The earth was filled with violence,' and "all flesh had 
corrupted his way upon the earth." Such are the expressive 
utterances of this scripture with reference to the condition of 
society in Noah's time. Because man had become so corrupt, 
so degraded, so vile, God was obliged to destroy the race by 




"As it was in the days of Noah" 

the flood. The infinite kindness of Infinite Mercy could devise 
nothing that would save that corrupt people. Goodness no 
longer appealed to them. The right, the pure, and the holy 
was only a subject of ridicule and contempt. And if we will 
believe the Word of God, we may know that "as it was in the 
days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man." 
Every one most assuredly carries the conviction, whether he 



94 



HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 



George M. Nichols Shot 

Down in His Home 

Near Bridgeport. 



HIS AGED SISTER 

BADLY WOUNDED, 



Roused at 2 
in the X 



will freely acknowledge it or not, that 
our day and generation is as remarkable 
for its corruption and violent crimes as 
it is for its wonderful inventions and 
material progress. It would be useless 
to wander at length through the maze 
of statistics in order to show the 
alarming progress that evil 
is making. All have 
the unmistakable 
evidence about 
them continually that 
wickedness in its dark- 
est forms is takine com- 
plete possession of this 
whole world. As Charles 
B. Spahr, Ph. D., express- 
es it: — 
0/?j^\ " Upon matters com 

of common people is more 
trustworthy than the statisti- 
cal investigations of the most 
unprejudiced experts. Social sta- 
tistics are only trustworthy when 
they show to the world at large what 
common observation shows to those 
personally familiar with the conditions 
described." 

Ask yourself the question candidly 
and seriously, " Have I not been alarmed because of the rob- 
beries, the murders, the drunkenness, the dishonesty, and the 
many other crimes that are seen on every hand?" This is an 




ATTACKED 



Chased from Field to Field, He 

Fought Hard for His 

Life. 



HE SHOT AT HIS PURSUERS. 



When «1ic Man Fell from Bullet 

Wound* He Wns Torn to 

Pieces. 



ing within its field, 
the common observation 



THE PREVALENCE OF CRIME A SIGN OF OUR TIMES. 



95 



WOMAN BANK ROBBER CAUGHT. 



Cora 



Was 



e Fleeing Crlmi- 
Hubbard, 
"Rec- 



age in which corruption in political and social life is simply 
appalling. If we look to the rising generation for help, we find 
no relief; for even our little boys and 
girls in large numbers are becoming 
expert criminals. The facts 
upon this question are so 
open that common, 
every-day obser- 
vation is really 
all we need to 
show us the 
true condition 
of our times. 

Such men 
as W. Douglas 
Morrison, who 
has made a care- 
ful and exhaustive 
study of criminals 
and the causes that pro- 
duce them, with the one 
thought in mind of su£orestino- rerne . 
dies by which the evil may be abated, 
testifies that "the amount of crimes 
committed, whether by juveniles or 
adults, is always largely in excess of 
the amount of crime recorded in the 
most complete and elaborate public re- 
turns." See "Juvenile Offenders," p. 
2, D. Appleton & Co., 1897. 

The same author, speaking from 
the view-point of "a wide experience 
of the criminal population," says: "One 
of the formidable problems confronting 




Police Force Must Do Something 
Effective, Under Penalty. 



CHIEF- 



STHREAT 



Reductions and Transfers of In- 
spector s Men Pending. 



ROBBERS MUST BE CAUGHT, 



Officers Often Too Friendly With 
Vicious Classes. 



STARTLING ARRAY OF CRIMES. 



re A I 
Cni»] 



N'oeclcil In r.icrolju 



9 6 



HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 



MOB LAW IN OHIO 



Cincinnati's Riot and Washington Court Houes 
Tragedy Outgone by 
ul 



civilized com- 
munities at the 
close of the 
present century 
is the problem 
of habitual 
crime. It is 
perfectly well 
known to every 
ser ious 
student of 
criminal 
questions, 
both at 
home and 
abroad, that 
the propor- 
tion of habit- 
ual criminals 
in the criminal 
population is stead- 
ily on the increase, and 
was never so high as now. 
In almost every official doc- 
ument dealing with penal ad- 
ministration, this unsatisfactory 
state of things is both admitted and 
deplored." — Id., Preface, p. 5. 
Writing from his office in London, Mr. Morrison says 
further: "Whether we look at home or abroad, whether we 
consult the criminal returns of the Old World or the New, we 
invariably find juvenile criminality exhibiting a distinct tendency 
to increase. It is a problem which is not confined to any single 
community; it is confronting the whole family of nations; it is 




THE PREVALENCE OF CRIME A SIGN OF OUR TIMES. 97 

arising out of conditions which are common to civilization." — 
Id., Preface, p. 8. 

The foregoing paragraphs present the observations of one 
who has made an exhaustive and world-wide study of the 
subject. The statements are plain, and need no comment. 

Upon this subject of the criminality of our time the Catholic 
Mirror says editorially: — 

"In an article recently, Professor Andrew D. White, who 
is not given to sensational statements, draws attention to the 
extraordinary increase of crime throughout the country. That 
there is such an increase, no statistics are needed to show; for 
we have proof of it, such as can scarcely have escaped the 
attention of even careless readers, in the daily papers. Shock- 
ing occurrences are chronicled — murder in all its forms, robbery, 
felonious assaults, and every kind of vicious manifestations." — 
Catholic Mirror, May jo, i8q6. 

The several foregoing quotations are from gentlemen who 
are not only eminent for their education, wide experience, and 
public services, but who are decidedly optimistic in their general 
views; hence their statements would not be overdrawn, and are 
entitled to the most candid consideration. 

Similar statements equally as strong as the foregoing could 
be quoted at length from numerous other sources, but it is 
unnecessary. The reader's own personal observation enables 
him to know that crime is increasing rapidly, and has already 
reached a terrible stage. Even the most superficial observer 
must be impressed by such constantly recurring head-lines in 
the daily papers as are shown in the groups on these pages. 

How heart-sickening is the fact, disclosed by the criminal 
records of the day, that even women, young girls, and little 
boys, as well as men, have become so lawless and vicious as to 
commit the darkest crimes, even to audacious highway robbery 
and the foulest murder! Any one knows that such headings 
as those herewith represented, chronicling, as they do, such a 



9 8 



HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 



variety of crimes, may be found in our daily papers three 
hundred and sixty-five days out of every year. How clearly 
and completely are the prophetic words of our Saviour thus 
fulfilled before us! 

Reader, as you see this constant outbreaking of crime all 
around you, are you not forcibly reminded of the inspired 
description of Noah's time? "God looked upon the earth, and, 
behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon 
the earth, and God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come 
before Me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; 
and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth." Gen. 6:12, 13. 

In considering these inspired words, do not overlook the fact 
that "as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the 
days of the Son of man." Luke 17 126. 

The reader may have believed heretofore that the world will 
march on to a great millennium of righteousness and peace 
before the Saviour's coming, but still the mind must often have 
been disturbed by the lack of harmony between the peace- 
millennium theory and the appalling facts concerning the crimi- 
nality that, like a malignant plague, is breaking out everywhere. 
Some theories and the facts may fail to harmonize; but God's 
Book and the facts will never fail to be in unison. We should 
study the Bible; we should believe it and rely upon it fully, for 
we shall need its perfect light to guide us through the perils 
and amid the darkness of these last davs. 





CHAPTER ELEVEN. 

A PRACTISE has grown up within the last few years of 
presenting technicalities and various quibbles in courts, 
so that criminal cases are carried from one tribunal to 
another, until the guilty are finally set free without receiving the 
just and lawful punishment that their evil deeds deserve. The 
current writings of prominent lawyers and judges make frequent 
mention of this fact, but no human language expresses it so 
forcibly as the inspired prophet. Hear what he says: — 

"Our transgressions are multiplied before Thee, and our sins 
testify against us; for our transgressions are with us; and as for 
our iniquities, we know them; in transgressing and lying against 
the Lord, and departing away from our God, speaking oppres- 
sion and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of 
falsehood. And judgment is turned away backward, and justice 
standeth afar off; for truth is fallen in the street, and equity can 
not enter. Yea, truth faileth ; and he that departeth from evil 
maketh himself a prey; and the Lord saw it, and it displeased 
Him that there was no judgment." Isa. 59 : 12-15. 

There may have been times and places since Isaiah uttered 

•this prophecy in which judgment was "turned away backward," 

and justice stood "afar off," because "truth had fallen in the 

(99) 



IOO HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

streets," and equity could not "enter;" but never has it been so 
literally and universally true as to-day. And all these prophetic: 
utterances concerning the children of Israel in the old dispen- 
sation, while they doubtless had a practical and incidental 
fulfilment in those times, are yet especially applicable in these 
last days. For, speaking of ancient Israel, the apostle says: — 

" Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples; 
and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends 
of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he 
standeth take heed lest he fall. There hath no temptation 
taken you but such as is common to man; but God is faithful, 
who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; 
but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye 
may be able to bear it." i Cor. 10: 11-13. 

Then "all these things happened" unto the Israel of old for 
"ensamples," and "they are written for our admonition, upon 
whom the ends of the world are come." There is no necessity 
for mistake here. All we need to do is faithfully to consider 
and heed what these scriptures say. 

There is another scripture that it will be well for us fre- 
quently to study. It says: "Woe to the inhabiters of the 
earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, 
having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a 
short time." Rev. 12:12. 

Satan manifests "great wrath" when "he knoweth that he 
hath but a short time." He profits by all his experience in all 
the past ages in leading men to commit sin. As his time grows 
shorter and shorter, he becomes more and more enraged; and 
those who do not resist his influence by relying upon God 
and the power of His Word, are taken possession of by his 
satanic cunning. Thus will men be transformed into demons to 
do deeds of injustice and cruelty that will cause an involuntary 
shudder from all who have not closed their hearts against 
the tender influences of God's merciful Spirit. We see the 



JUDGMENT IS TURNED AWAY BACKWARD. IOI 

beginnings of the evils now; what will be the state of things 
when to its extreme limit it is true that " truth faileth; and he 
that departeth from, evil maketh himself a prey " ! 

The reader has doubtless been impressed to some extent at 
least by the lack of justice among men; but how many have 
opened their eyes wide, so that they can see the true condition 
of our world ? How does the heart grow sad and sick at the 
contemplation of the enormous degree to which "judgment is 
turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off" ! 

To an alarming extent our cities are passing under the 
control of the corrupt and criminal classes. In saying this I 
am not confiding to the reader a secret, but am simply stating a 
fact that hundreds of tongues and pens are discussing. What 
to do with the great cities is one of the most important and 
perplexing questions of the age. The reason for this is that the 
political "boss" has taken possession of the city government, 
and persistently and effectually holds it in the interest of his 
friends, who subsist upon that which may be secured by fraud or 
otherwise, through the "political machine." 

It is a source of gratification and thankfulness that there 
are still some honorable and honest public men. Were it not 
for the influence of the sterling integrity of these, who can 
picture what our world would be ? But how long can these 
faithful guardians of official uprightness hold in check the tides 
of evil that come rolling in ? When the last barrier is swept 
away, and, as in the days of Noah, this earth, in its private 
citizens and public officials as well, is wholly given to evil, a 
merciful and just God could do nothing short of coming in 
person to destroy the world in its iniquity. 

Let the reader turn his back upon sentiment, and look at the 
facts as they actually exist. For certainly there is as yet no 
sentimentalism that can so completely benumb the perceptibil- 
ities that the true condition of the world may not be seen. 

It is a common saying that money carries with it all the 
7 



102 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

influence needed to blind the eyes of justice and defeat the 
purpose of properly enacted law. The records of courts and 
legislatures show many tracings of the influence of money, both 
in the enactment of law and in the execution of laws already 
enacted; and if all that the records do not show could be 
revealed, many more immense volumes would undoubtedly be 
required to tell the story. But it seems to pass without serious 
contradiction that great combinations of capital work together 
to control elections and enact laws that suit their purposes; and 
if some are brought before the bar, there is a process of delays, 
quibbles, and appeals from one court to another, until justice 
is turned away, and evil and oppression for the time at least 
stalk about in haughty triumph. 

With these corrupting influences at work in legislatures and 
courts, is it any wonder that the police force of our large cities 
should also become infected with the evil contagion ? The 
extent to which they are affected may be judged somewhat 
from what was brought to light by the Lexow Committee in 
New York City during the years 1894 and 1895. Complaints 
had become so strong against the official corruption of the 
great metropolis of the New World that the New York Senate 
appointed a committee, with Mr. Lexow at its head, to make 
an investigation. 

The committee held seventy sittings, and its proceedings 
were all made public through the papers at the time, and 
afterward published in five large volumes of eleven hundred 
pages each. It would not be proper nor profitable to conduct 
the reader through all that mire of corruption; but in brief it 
may be stated that it was proved conclusively upon sworn 
testimony that many of the politicians, the police, and the 
magistrates were confederate with the criminals and promoters 
of vice, and were dividing their spoils on a regular percentage 
basis. This gross evil and injustice was not confined to a 
few subordinate policemen ; but the whole force, from captains 



JUDGMENT IS TURNED AWAY BACKWARD. IO3 

down, was found to be very largely affected by this collusion 
with the perpetrators of crime. 

They had the matter so thoroughly organized that the thief 
or confidence man could lure his victim into a saloon or some 
other den, and without fear of molestation proceed to rob him. 
A complaint would be lodged at police headquarters, and a 
detective sent to hunt out the criminal and bring him to justice; 
but the detective himself would be a part of the organized 
banditti, and of course know the best way not to find the 
thief. If, by force of unavoidable circumstances, the police 
were compelled to arrest one of these thugs, then the magistrate 
would come in to play his part; and as all hands had already 
received their proportionate share of the plunder, the thief or 
confidence trickster would be turned loose again just as soon as 
possible, so that he might go in quest of more victims to despoil. 
And thus this conspiracy would continue its diabolical work. 

Most of the readers of this book doubtless know about 
that revelation of the most shameful corruption in the city 
of New York, — that city which ought to be one of the 
crowning glories of the great American commonwealth. But 
some may not be aware of the scandalous crimes that were 
committed in common between thieves, assassins, confidence 
men, and those who were entrusted with the high responsibility 
of guarding the peace and good order of the city. Those who 
have lived in such happy seclusion that even the rumors of the 
prevailing wickedness of this age have not reached them, may 
be incredulous. They may think it is impossible that such 
things exist. They will ask in surprise and horror, ''Do you 
mean to say that a police officer can not always be trusted? 
Is there a possibility that he may be in a secret confederacy 
with the murderer and the highwayman?" It is appalling to 
think of it ; but such is the literal condition in that great center 
of commerce, art, and education, the metropolis of the republic 
and the second city in size and importance in all the world. 



104 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

So thoroughly Is this system of criminality organized and 
worked that a collector is appointed to exact the bribes and 
blackmail, and pay over the proper proportion to the police 
captain and his associates in this nefarious work. The following 
are some of the amounts regularly collected by the policeman 
of New 7 York City as the price for keeping his official eyes 
closed, and for doing all within his power not to catch the 
criminal, but to help him to get away: Pool-rooms, from $50 
to $300 a month; policy-shops, from $20 to $25 a month; 
liquor-dealers, $2.00 a month * prostitutes, from 50 cents a day 
to $1.00 a week, each; houses of ill-fame, from $10 to $50 
a month. 

In the pool-rooms and policy-shops, — and they are usually 
in the back part of some saloon, — every form of robbery is 
concocted and carried out. The city is districted, and each 
thief and confidence man has a given territory in which to work, 
and if in plying his infamous business one of them, either by 
chance or design, gets out of his prescribed limits into the 
territory of another, he is promptly notified by the police in 
that section that he must desist, or be "run in." 

As we might naturally expect, in operating such a system of 
iniquity, policemen are appointed and promoted, not on account 
of bravery or any other peculiar fitness for the responsibilities 
of the office, but because, according to the slang of politics, they 
have a "pull." But notwithstanding the "pull," they have to 
pay for the office. The price, according to the testimony before 
the Lexow Committee, that a police captain has to pay for his 
appointment to office is $15,000. This money goes to the 
"ring" politicians, who use it according to their corrupt desires 
in perpetuating their office and power; and of course the captain 
expects to have it returned with usury by the hand of his 
subordinate associates in crime. What a system! What depths 
of debauching and wicked injustice are reached ! 

Space can not be given to the recital of the long story of 



JUDGMENT IS TURNED AWAY BACKWARD. 105 

oppression and worse than highway robbery that are carried on 
under this high-handed system of iniquity; but a representative 
case may help to a fuller understanding of the awful depths of 
the pit of evil, which now exists. Mrs. Urchittel, a Russian 
Jewess widow, had a most sad experience while under the heel 
of this cruel tyranny. We will let her tell, in her own simple 
language, her story of sorrow and oppressive injustice. As 
found in the Lexow Report it is as follows: — 

" In 1 89 1 I came to New York, a widow with four children; 
my husband died in Hamburg. Being without means, I applied 
to the Hebrew Charities on Eighth Street for help, and they 
were kind enough to support me for starting a boarding-house 
in 166 Division Street, and gave me for furniture and other 
necessaries, and besides $60, sent immigrants to my boarding- 
house. My business was increasing daily, having thirty to 
thirty-five persons every week, and in eight months I saved 
$600. I worked hard, indeed; but I did it gladly, knowing that 
this will enable me to support my children, the orphans. 

" The immigration having been stopped, I had to give up 
boarding business; ana applying again to the Charities, they 
supported me again, giving me $150, and sent me to Browns- 
ville, where I bought a restaurant and made a nice living. But 
having the misfortune to lose one of my beloved children, I left 
Brownsville, after staying there but a little time, and came back 
to New York. 

"I bought a cigar score in 33 Pitt Street, corner of Broome, 
for $175, and gave the landlord $40 security, and supplied 
more goods for $50. On the second day of my taking posses- 
sion of the store, a man came 111 and bought a package of chew 
tobacco for five cents. A couple of days later the same man 
came in, asking me lor a package of chew tobacco, to trust 
him, which I refused, excusing myself; being recently the owner 
of that store, I don't Know anvbody of that surrounding. I can 
not do it. He took men out a dollar of his pocket, and gave it 



106 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

to me for changing; and having no small change, only pennies, 
which he wouldn't take, I sent my little daughter to get other 
coin for the dollar, and handing same to the man, I felt a tickling 
in my hand caused by the quarter of the dollar in the hand of 
the man, and I said good-by to him. 

"On the evening of that day another man came in the store, 
and told me that the man who was before asking for chew 
tobacco without money is a detective, and that he has a warrant 
to arrest me, and I can avoid the trouble by giving the detective 
$50, and refusing to do it I will be locked up, and my children 
taken away from me till the twenty-first year. Not knowing 
to have done anything wrong, I laughed at the man, and told 
him that I wouldn't give a cent to anybody, and if that man 
should come in again, I will chase him out with a broom. 

"The other night, at eleven o'clock, the children being 
asleep already, the same man who asked me to trust him the 
chew tobacco, and after which I learned he was a detective 
named Hussey, came in with another man, who took away my 
cousin that came to see me in that night, and the detective 
remained with me alone in the store. He told me then that 
he knows that I keep a disorderly house, and saved $600 of that 
dishonest business. If I wanted to escape being arrested, he 
wanted $50. I opposed to his assertion, and protested against 
his wanting money of me, saying that I ever made a living by 
honest business; but he wouldn't listen to me, and in spite of 
my protesting and the crying of my children. I was forced to 
leave my store and follow him. 

"As we were two blocks away, we met Mr. Hochstein, and, 
crying, I told him all my trouble, and how I don't know any- 
thing about the false accusations. It was of no avail; Mr. 
Hochstein told me that the detective wants $75, but he will try 
to settle it with $50, but without any money nothing can be 
done for me; and gave me also his advice, to pay $10 monthly 
to the detective, I wouldn't be troubled at all, and that I should 



JUDGMENT IS TURNED AWAY BACKWARD. IO? 

resume my business unhindered. I repeated again that I don't 
know anything about dishonest business, but it was no use 
talking more. 

" I was dragged from corner to corner till three o'clock in 
the morning, insisting that I had money with me, $600, I kept 
it in my stockings. Weary and tired out, I sat down at the 
corner of Essex and Rivington Streets, at a dry goods store, and 
took off my stockings, showing that I had no money in them. 
' If you don't want to give the money,' said the detective to 
me, 'I can't help it; you must follow me to the station-house.' 
Being convinced that it is impossible that I should escape 
without giving money, I took out $25 of my pocket, the only 
money I had, and handed them over to the detective standing 
by a window, which money was parted between Mr. Hochstein 
and himself, he taking $13 and Hochstein $12. 

"They went with me to Essex Street, and, sending me in 
through a gate in the house, where I was kept about two 
minutes, they sent me home after with the warning to be 
prepared with $50. At seven o'clock in the morning the 
detective, Hussey, came to my store asking for the money. I 
cried again and begged him to let me go, that I am not able to 
give him any more money; but he didn't want to hear me any 
more, and I had to follow him. By the signal of a whistle a 
man came near me, and the detective gave me over to him with 
the remark not to let me go till I have the $50. The name of 
that man is Mr. Meyer. I went with him to Mr. Lefkovitz, 
manufacturer of syrups, 154 Delancey Street, and to Mr. Frank 

, for selling the store even for the $50; but they didn't want 

to buy it, seeing the man after me and fearing trouble. After 
trying in vain to sell the store, the detective said to Mr. Meyer: 
' That bad woman don't want to give the money. Take her to 
the court.' And I had to stay at the trial. 

"Two bad, disreputed boys were engaged by the detective, 
Hussey, for witness. The one said that he gave me fifty cents 



108 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

for gratifying him, and the other said that he would give me 
forty cents, and I did not agree, asking fifty; and thus I was 
detained in default of $500 bail. Having been sitting in the 
court, the detective, Hussey, came in to me on the same day 
at four o'clock p. m., and told me that my children are already 
taken away from my house, and if I can give him the $50, he 
can help me even now. 

" Hearing the distress of my poor children, I cried loudly, 
and a lady took me to a dark room, where I was locked up. 
Unable to procure bail, I was imprisoned for three days, and 
sent after to the Tombs, where I had to stand trial. 

"There were about fifty persons to witness that I had 
always made an honest living ; but they were not asked at all, 
and being wholly unable to understand the English language, I 
couldn't defend myself. The lawyer who was sent from the 
Hebrew Charities, came too late, and had to give only the 
certificate of the society, testifying that I was supported by 
them, and led a decent living. It came too late, and I could 
not talk any more. 

" I was "fined $50. My brother sold my store for $65, and 
paid the fine. 

"I ran then crazy for my children; for I didn't know where 
they were. Meeting the detective he told me that they are 
in the hands of a society in Twenty-third Street. I ran there, 
but no one knew of my children. Finally, after five weeks, I 
received a postcard of my child, that the children are at One 
Hundred and Fifty-first Street and Eleventh Avenue, and when 
I got there, and begged to give to me back my children, none 
would hear me. 

"Grieved at the depth of my heart, seeing me bereaved of 
my dear children, I fell sick, and was lying six months in the 
Sixty-sixth Street hospital, and had to undergo a great opera- 
tion by Professor Mundy. After I left the hospital, I had the 
good chance to find a place in 558 Broadway, where I fixed up 



JUDGMENT IS TURNED AWAY BACKWARD. IO9 

a stand by which I am enabled to make a nice living, to support 
and educate my children. I went again to Twenty-third Street, 
begging to release my children, and that was denied again. 
My heart craves to have my children with me. 

" I have nothing else in the world only them. I want to 
live and to die for them, I lay my supplication before you, 
honorable sir, father of family, whose heart beats for your chil- 
dren, and feels what children are to a faithful mother. Help me 
to get my children. Let me be mother to them. Grant me 
my holy wish, and I will always pray for your happiness, and 
will never forget your kind and benevolent act toward me." — 
Proceedings of Lexow Committee, vol. j, pp. 2, g6i-g64. 

It would seem that the knowledge of having perpetrated 
such deeds of inhuman and worse than barbarous cruelty would 
cause shame, remorse, and indignant self-condemnation, and 
that even a demon would be led to forsake with disgust such 
injustice and oppression. But such is not the case. We are in 
the time that corresponds to the days of Noah, and the wicked- 
ness of man is "great in the earth," and "every imagination of 
the thoughts of his heart" is "only evil continually." 

The case of Mrs. Urchittel is by no means an isolated one. 
The committee reported that "many cases of similar oppression 
are found on the record." They also say in this report: — 

" Oppression of the lowly and unfortunate, the coinage of 
money out of the miseries of life, is one of the noteworthy 
abuses into which the department has fallen. 

"The evidence of many witnesses shows the existence of 
a wonderful conspiracy in the neighborhood of Essex Market 
police court, headed by politicians, including criminals, profes- 
sional bondsmen, professional thieves, police, and those who 
lay plots against the unwary, and lead them into habits of law- 
breaking, or surround them with a network of false evidence, 
and then demand money as the price of salvation, and if they 
do not receive it, drag their victims into court and prison, and 



I 10 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

often to a convict's cell." — Proceedings of Lexoiv Committee, 
vol. i, pp. 43, 44. 

After reviewing this system of crime, Mr. Stead tersely re- 
marks: "Is it any wonder that the Lexow Commission reported, 
under the head of ' Brutality ' as it existed in the police force, 
'This condition has grown to such an extent that even in the 
eyes of our foreign-born residents, our institutions have been 
degraded, and those who have fled from oppression abroad have 
come here to be doubly oppressed in a professedly free and 
liberal country'?" — Satan s Invisible World Displayed, p. 144. 

It was fondly hoped by many that the exposures by the 
Lexow Committee of this sink of corruption would produce a 
public sentiment that would sweep it from the earth ; but these 
high hopes have not been realized. The subject was discussed 
quite freely at the time, but as yet no reformation has been 
reported. During the sixties, "Boss" Tweed was perpetrating 
fraud and scandals as leader of his political ring in New York 
that created even a greater sensation than the exposures of the 
Lexow Commission. Tweed was finally arrested and lodged in 
jail, where he died. It was said that his criminal extortions had 
brought him, as his share, a fortune of $20,000,000. He was 
living like an ancient Persian prince when he was taken into 
custody. It was supposed that his "ring" was broken up, and 
with it the evil destroyed; but the seeds of corruption had been 
sown, and the facts show that the crop is still most amazingly 
prolific. 

The New York Tribune evidently has not seen any improve- 
ment in that city or the country at large, as witness the following 
from its issue of January it, 1898: — 

"The practise among burglars and highwaymen of using 
torture to compel their victims to tell where they have hidden 
their money seems to be on the increase, and thieves appear to 
be even more ready now with knife or pistol than they were in 
former years. It is painfully evident that murderous criminals 



JUDGMENT IS TURNED AWAY BACKWARD. I I I 

now feel less fear of punishment in many parts of the country 
than they felt in the eighties or the early nineties." 

A committee was appointed by the Illinois Senate to make 
investigations in Chicago similar to those made in New York by 
the Lexow Committee. In the New York Sun of January 27, 
1898, may be found a brief report of some of the work done in 
Chicago by this committee. The report is headed "Corruption 
in Chicago," and shows that the condition of that great city is 
by no means better than was found to be the case in New York. 
The same issue of the Sun heads another article — 



CHICAGO'S HOLD-UP RECORD. 



Two Men Try to Rob a Saloon in Charge of a Woman. 



POLICEMAN DISGRACED. 



The "disgrace" of the policeman consisted in first "holding 
up" two men and demanding their cash, and afterward being 
discharged from the police force because of "conduct unbecom- 
ing an officer." It was such "unbecoming conduct" as this 
that led the head of the Chicago police, when before the inves- 
tigating committee, to "apologize for the thugs and toughs who 
had been appointed as members of the police force since he 
was made chief." 

At about the same time that this investigation was being 
conducted in Chicago, a number of clergymen in Philadelphia 
were probing the evils there; and, according to the New York 
World of January 28, 1898, the Quaker City was found to be 
worse than New York had been. The ministers testified that 
there was plenty of evidence to show that the police of that 
place, too, were in league with the criminals. 

These evils are not confined to the cities of the United 
States, as is very well known. From time to time the period- 
icals of the day are telling us of the corrupting influences that 



112 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

are leavening the cities of the Old World as well. During the 
latter weeks of 1898 the papers were reporting and deploring 
the frauds and crimes that were being committed by high 
officials in the city of London, "the great metropolis of the 
world." The reports showed, among other things, that the same 
scandalous crimes were being carried on there under the cover 
of official protection and collusion that the Lexow Committee 
discovered and exposed in New York. 

During the year 1897, sums aggregating $1 1,154,530 were 
embezzled in this country alone; and of this money more than 
three and a half millions were taken by public officials. This 
of course represents public funds that were taken outright, and 
the embezzlers caught at their deeds; but when so much is 
stolen in this way, it is not to be supposed that all are found 
out; and those who are arrested have such resources in bribes, 
lawyers' technicalities, pardons, etc., that it is difficult for justice 
to be secured. 

The lord chief justice of England, on Lord Mayor's day, 
November 9, 1898, made a brief address, in which he pointed 
out some of the frauds and embezzlements that are such a men- 
ace to the people of Great Britain. And, after speaking of 
the evils that were being committed by men in high positions, 
he stated that careful official research showed that corporation 
officials had embezzled ^"28,159,482, or about $140,000,000, 
during the seven years ending with 1897. He said, "These 
figures relate only to companies wound up compulsorily." And, 
after mentioning other cases that were not taken into account 
in the foregoing figures, he adds that if these latter companies 
are reckoned among the rest, "the loss to the public is enor- 
mous." Thus Great Britain's defalcations that are sought out 
and reported average about twenty millions annually. These 
figures seem "enormous" enough, but still they show only a 
part of the depths of the yawning abyss of crime. 

And it is a noteworthy fact that, whether it is across the 



JUDGMENT IS TURNED AWAY BACKWARD. 113 

water or in this land of America, when men meet to-day one of 
the uppermost topics for discussion is, "What shall we do to 
destroy the avalanche of criminality that is coming down upon 
us?" There are criminals in high stations and criminals in the 
back alleys and gutters — criminals have stolen influential offices 
of state and climbed into the judgment-seat. "What can be 
done ? " is the anxious query. 

Not the least interesting among the facts brought out in 
connection with this epidemic of crimes are the conscientious 
scruples that some of these monstrosities of evil have. For 
instance, one police captain said he was a Christian, and there- 
fore did not want to receive any of the blackmail extorted from 
prostitutes. He would receive his share of the sums extorted 
from the poor victims in policy shops, or that which was taken 
by the highwayman; but when it came to receiving a share of 
the spoils gathered from the houses of ill-fame, his conscience 
was too tender to receive it. We may smile at this, and yet it is 
a serious matter to this depraved officer of the law. And when 
we see that men can sink so low, and still, even in the society 
of their corrupt associates, flaunt their counterfeit piety and 
diseased conscientiousness, it shows that the cunning of Satan 
can even make a man believe that his despicable crimes may all 
be covered by some act of feigned piety. 

The foregoing pages take only the briefest and most limited 
survey of the increasing injustice of our time. The reader has 
no doubt been compelled to see and hear much more of it; for 
it is distressingly prevalent everywhere. But the important 
question is, What does it portend ? 

Surely the evils in Noah's time could not have been much 
greater or darker than those which are cursing the world to-day. 
Most literally are we in the time when "judgment is turned 
away backward, and justice standeth afar off; for truth is fallen 
in the street, and equity can not enter. Yea, truth faileth; and 
he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey; and the 



ii4 



HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 



Lord saw it, and it displeased Him that there was no judgment." 

Isa. 59:14. 15- 

Looking to this world, the prospect is gloomy enough 
indeed; but there is a gleaming of light. It is not centered in 
this corrupt earth, however, but it is shining from that Book 
which holds forth the promises of the Coming One. All hail to 
this glorious light of eternal day ! Justice in the earth is hard 
to find ; but justice from on high is about to strike. Who, with 
a knowledge of the facts, can expect that it will be long delayed? 





CHAPTER 

TWELVE. 

IT should be particu- 
larly noticed that in 
speaking of the days 
of Noah the record says: "The end of all flesh is come before 
Me; for the- earth is filled with violence through them; and, 
behold, I will destroy them with the earth." Gen. 6:13. 

At that time the land had become "filled with violence," and 
God found it necessary to destroy the earth. The misery, the 
oppression, and the vices and crimes that abound when every- 
thing is given up to evil, would, of course, if time were given 
them, work out the destruction of the whole race; but it would 
be amid prolonged tortures and indescribable anguish, from 
which no possible good could result. Hence the divine destruc- 
tion of such abandoned evil, when viewed from the correct 
standpoint, is the measuring out of infinite mercy. 

Our earth is not filled with "violence" now; but the agencies 
are actively working which will soon produce this terrible con- 
dition. Who has not been impressed by the rapidly-increasing 
tendency toward "mob law"? Every few days the record 
comes to us of some poor wretch who, without the benefit of 
either judge or jury, is taken with "violence," and brutally and 

(115) 



Il6 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

inhumanly put to death. Leading jurists and statesmen, view- 
ing this increasing tendency to mob "violence" in dealing with 
crime, regard the situation with grave apprehension. The Hon. 
I. C. Parker, judge of the United States District Court for the 
Western District of Arkansas, says : — 

" When we go to the facts, we find that during the last six 
years there have been 43,902 homicides in the United States, 
an average of 7,317 per year. In the same time there have 
been 723 legal executions, and 1,118 lynchings. These startling 
figures show that crime is rapidly increasing instead of dimin- 
ishing. In the last year [1895] IO >5°° persons were killed, or 
at the rate of &J5 per month; whereas in 1890 there were only 
4,290, or less than half as many as in 1895. This bloody 
record shows a fearful increase of the crime that destroys human 
life. . . . We can easily recognize that the greatest evil of 
any civilized age is confronting tcs, not only in the shape of 
crimes committed by individuals, but also of crimes committed 
by masses of men who are endeavoring by bloody and improper 
means to seek a remedy — I mean those who band themselves 
together as mobs to seek that protection which they fail to 
obtain under the forms of law." — North A?7terican Review, 
June, i8g6. 

Judge Parker in the same article states his opinion as to the 
cause of this increase of murder and mob violence. He says: 
"The criminal law and its administration have rather fallen into 
disgrace. . . . It is largely because of the corrupt methods 
resorted to to defeat the law's administration, and because courts 
of justice look to the shadow, in the shape of technicalities, rather 
than to the substance, in the shape of crimes. . . . Now, 
the condition is so serious- — and it is grozving more so all the 
time — that there must be some remedy. . . . The cause 
of this condition springs in part from a morbid, diseased public 
sentiment, which begets undue sympathy for the criminal, and 
has none whatever for his murdered victim. It grows out of 



THE EARTH IS FILLED WITH VIOLENCE. 1 I J 

the indifference of the people to the enforcement of the criminal 
law. It arises from corrupt verdicts begotten by frauds and 
perjuries. It arises from the undue exercise of influence, either 
monetary, social, or otherwise, so that juries are carried away 
from the line of duty." 

The foregoing statements were made after a careful and 
exhaustive study of the subject. The judge has had unexcelled 
opportunities to scan the whole field, and learn the- true state of 
affairs, and he has stated simple facts that men and women 
everywhere are affirming and deploring. In harmony with the 
foregoing from Judge Parker is the following statement of 
Judge Elliot Anthony, president of the Illinois State Bar Asso- 
ciation, in his address at its annual meeting, Jan. 24, 1895, at 
Springfield, 111.: — ■ 

"There is dissatisfaction everywhere throughout the country 
in regard to the methods adopted and the course pursued by 
our courts in dealing with the violators of the law, and it is but 
little wonder that the people in some of the oldest portions of 
the republic have at times become exasperated at the trifling 
and juggling which are allowed, and have wreaked summary 
vengeance on thugs and assassins, to the disgrace of civilization 
and the age in which we live." 

Following these statements, the words of the lord chan- 
cellor of England, as reported in the London Times of Nov. 
10, 1898, are forcible and to the point. He says: "There is 
nothing which will so dissociate men, which will drive nations 
to madness so quickly, as the belief that the justice of the 
country is not honestly and impartially administered." 

Who can read these startling statements, made by leading 
jurists, without being deeply impressed with the truth that we 
are indeed living in days that answer fully to the Bible descrip- 
tion of the time of Noah ? And common observation is 
all that is required to enable us to know that they are alarm- 
ingly true. A detail of facts and statistics is not necessary in 



I iS HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

order for us to see and understand the condition of things 
about us. 

The great tendency of the age is toward a universal reign of 
"violence." A condition of discontent pervades the world, and 
soon these clamoring elements must break loose. There is no 
power that will hold them in check for any great length of time. 
There have been social problems in the past, but never have 
they appeared in such vast and alarming proportions as now. 

At the beginning of the year 1898, Bishop Newman said: 
"This is the most unsettled condition of the world since the 
crucifixion of Christ. . . . The stability of government is 
no longer a fact. „ Change is in the atmosphere. It is just as 
true now as a thousand years ago, 'Thou knowest not what a 
day will bring forth.' . . . Statesmen are at their wits' end. 
Philosophers speculate in vain." 

The forcible truth of Bishop Newman's statements may be 
more fully realized by briefly calling to mind some of the events 
that followed within a few months from the time he wrote the 
foregoing. First it might be well to mention that there is 
scarcely a nation that was not in a quarrel with some other 
nation during the year 1898. The United States not only 
quarreled but fought with Spain. England had trouble with 
Russia, Germany, and France. France and Germany had 
difficulties to settle. And so complicated are the questions 
involved in these difficulties among the great powers of Europe, 
that, if war breaks out, it seems highly probable that all the 
world will be drawn into the conflict. 

Then look at the domestic troubles that are perplexing these 
governments. The ink with which Bishop Newman wrote was 
hardly dry before there was rioting in Algiers. The great 
strike of the engineers in England had been going on for sev- 
eral months. Revolution was smoldering in France over the 
Dreyfus case; and it is evident that numerous causes are at 
work there that may at any time result in another Reign of 



THE EARTH IS FILLED WITH VIOLENCE. I 1 9 

Terror. Spain was on the verge of a revolution at home while 
she was at the same time warring with the United States; there 
was serious rioting in Austria-Hungaria, and the conditions 
were such in the Austrian Empire that that government dared 
not undertake to assist their kinsmen in Spain, for fear that, if 
their army was taken from home, there would be a general revolt 
of the people. Italy had her bread riots, and four hundred 
persons are reported to have been killed and a thousand injured 
in the conflict of a single day. And the reader will recall the 
riots in China, the Moslem revolt in Central Asia, the uprisings 
in Africa, South America, etc., etc. 

In the countries where there have been no uprisings or 
riotings in recent months, there may be found the seeds of dis- 
content that are liable to produce disturbances any day. For 
instance, in the German elections of 1898, members were 
elected to the Reichstag by twelve different political parties, 
with a marked increase in favor of the Socialists. Who can 
estimate the discontent in a country that has so many different 
political creeds, and each working to produce reforms that all 
assert are sorely needed? Is it to be wondered at that Germany 
had five hundred seventy-eight strikes during the year 1897 ? 

In all the world may be found, as Mr. Chauncey M. Depew 
terms it, "the century- vexing problem of capital and labor." 
There is an irrepressible strife between these two camps. We 
may seek to minimize it by words; but the evil growth is there, 
nevertheless, and sooner or later the world-wide struggle will 
begin. Money has been used to defeat justice; it has been 
used to control elections and legislatures. Fortunes have been 
accumulated that rival the stories about Midas and Croesus. 
And over against these colossal treasures and their possessors 
may be seen the gathering legions of poverty and destitution. 

In every strike it may be seen that "violence" is becoming 
more pronounced. The hatred that is being cultivated against 
trusts, corporations, and the individual possessors of great 



120 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

fortunes, is growing deeper and more revengeful. The reports 
tell of some strikers in Illinois during the autumn of 1898 who 
clubbed and stoned an agent of a corporation until the fellow 
was supposed to be dead. The police finally succeeded in 
rescuing his body, and he was laid out upon the court-house 
lawn to await the action of the coroner. The man moved his 
head, and thus showed signs of life, whereupon a person from 
the mob jumped on his body and began to stamp and kick him. 
How strikingly does this represent the growing ''violence," for 
it is not an isolated and uncommon case, but serves merely as 
an illustration of the general condition ! 

Briefly reviewing the situation, we find that the love of 
money is corrupting the age. The judge is blinded by bribes. 
The legislator is elected by the corrupt use of money. Money 
is freely used to influence the making of laws. With these evil 
influences working so extensively in what are called the higher 
circles, composed of the wealthy and influential members of 
society, is it to be wondered at that town and city politicians 
should learn the lesson, and put it into active operation ? Need 
we be surprised that the city has its corrupt politicians, its 
dishonest and criminal policemen, and its magistrates who will 
not protect the oppressed, and who seek a bribe to influence 
every decision? And when the magistrate or judge will free 
the robber and assassin for a gift of money, it is but a natural 
consequence that murders and robberies should become more 
numerous and daring. 

In short, society to-day is a school that is filling the world 
with criminals. And the fact should not be passed by that a 
flood of pernicious literature is a mighty factor in this debasing 
work. Especially does this literature pervert the minds of boys 
and turn them into the downward road of criminality while they 
are yet children. It is no uncommon thing to read of lads still 
in their teens who commit robberies, murders, and all the rest 
of the crimes. 



THE EARTH IS FILLED WITH VIOLENCE. ] 2 1 

Now, in the very nature of things, all of these corrupting 
practises of this time are drowning the sense of justice. The 
world is driving headlong into that time when "every imagina- 
tion" will be "only evil continually," and who can conceive the 
extent of the "violence" with which the earth will be filled 
when the harvest of sin is fully ripe? 

The Lord looked down the ages to these last days. He 
has shown in advance what the culminating works of sin will 
be. He has taken pains to unmask it, and in every way pos- 
sible to warn us against the evil, while He freely offers us the 
good. Many of the poor souls who are floundering in the 
lowest depths of the dark sins of this time do not know that 
the Saviour still loves them. They are not acquainted with the 
truth that He died not only to save them, but to make the 
depths of His love more manifest to them. 

In these last days truly "the earth is filled with violence." 
Though this violence has not as yet broken out with all its 
malignant terrors, nevertheless the seeds of the evil are rapidly 
growing into a prolific harvest. But "the days of the Son of 
man" are at hand. He will separate sin from the hearts of 
all who will yield to His moulding hand, and He will fashion, 
them into jewels of His grace. Then in that near day of His 
coming it will be a joy to be made like Him; for we shall see 
Him as He is. 





CHAPTER THIRTEEN. 



THE Saviour makes mention of the "days of Lot," as well 
as the days of Noah, to represent the depths of vice that 
would be reached in the last days. Let us read His 
words again: "As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be 
also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, 
they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day 
that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and 
destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; 
they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, 
they builded; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom 
it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them 
all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is 
revealed." Luke 17:26-30. 

The Word of God tells us that in the "days of Noah" 
"every imagination" of man's heart was "only evil continually;" 
and since these same depths of evil imaginings will prevail again 
at the close of time, it should not be a matter of surprise that 
the corrupting vice of Sodom as it was in "the days of Lot" 
will break out as a debasing plague. 

The grossest sin of Sodom was her abandoned licentious- 
ness. When we wish to describe the very lowest sink of licen- 
tious lust, we speak of it as a "veritable Sodom." The depravity 
of mankind was manifested in that wicked city in its most 
(122) 



THE SOCIAL VICE. 1 2$ 

shameful and vilest forms. It is sad to know that the human 
race, excepting those, of course, who resist the influences of 
Satan, will again be led by him into such gross sensuality; but 
such is the prediction of the Word of God, and it will be fulfilled. 

In 1895 ^ was estimated that there were between forty and 
fifty thousand prostitutes in the city of New York alone; and 
there is no evidence that New York is worse in proportion to 
its population than other cities. When there is such a vast 
multitude of women who support themselves by their life of 
shame, who can estimate the thousands of men who are sacri- 
ficing their virtue and manhood at the shrine of lust? It is 
usual to count only the women ; but for each woman who lives 
as a public prostitute, there are, in the very nature of things, 
many men who are the companions of her vice. 

The prevalence of licentiousness is only too apparent. As 
one goes along the streets of our cities, evidences of the exist- 
ence of houses of ill-fame are seen on every hand. The bold- 
faced and abandoned woman comes out upon the public street, 
and openly seeks to entice men into her den of vice. It would 
seem that our boasted civilization should sweep such disgusting 
spectacles away, as too loathsome to be endured; but legis- 
latures and city councils, at least to the extent of a majority, 
look upon the prostitute as a necessity. Age-of-consent statutes 
have been enacted that allow men to seduce the merest little 
girls to their ruin, with no fear of legal penalties to deter them. 
In many of the states the age of consent is fixed at ten, twelve, 
and fourteen years; and in one state, unless the law has recently 
been repealed, the age is fixed at seven. 

It is a mystery how grown-up men — the fathers of little 
girls — can stand up in the legislative assemblies, and seriously 
propose and enact such laws. How can it be possible that men 
are so lost to the sense of shame, even if their sense of justice 
is gone, that they will support the idea that a child of ten may 
"consent" to abandon her virtue, without being first deceived 



124 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

by a base libertine? Why, a child of such tender years can not 
comprehend what she is doing. She does not as yet have the 
mental development that will enable her to look down the awful 
road into which the cruel, lustful seducer is turning her childish 
and innocent feet. "We are in the full blaze of the great 
enlightenment and humanitarian civilization of the nineteenth 
century." Yes, that is the boast of this age. But, nevertheless, 
can any one imagine that Sodom could have done much worse 
than first to make such great pretensions, and then deliberately 
make laws that would shield the villain of lust in ruining little 
girls? No child can give her consent to such vice and realize 
its enormity; and such age-of-cohsent laws are nothing more 
than a legal protection to vice, while, with satanic cunning, it 
hurls the innocents into shameless ruin. 

There is a regular traffic in young girls; and that is one 
reason why these age-of-consent laws can still hold their place on 
our statute-books. Men of wealth who frequent the house of 
shame will pay a big premium to get young and innocent girls 
for their vile purposes. So the brothel sends its agents out to 
find little girls who are just entering their teens. Sometimes 
these innocents can be lured away by childish gifts; sometimes, 
if they are a little older, the villains make love to them, and 
propose to marry them; and finally the unsuspecting child is 
enticed into her life of misery and ruin. But let one of these 
emissaries of evil make his own confession as to how this work 
is carried on. The following is his statement : — 

"I go out into some of these country towns, and pretend to 
be a drummer, and stop at the best hotel, and then watch for 
my pretty girl. There's just two things I find out, first, 
whether she has a father or brother that knows how to handle 
a shotgun, for I don't want to get my head blown off for any 
girl; and, second, I find out if she is under the age of consent; 
for those W. C. T. U. women have put some fellows in the 
penitentiary for getting girls below the lawful [?] age, and I 



THE SOCIAL VICE. 1 25 

don't want to go behind the bars. But if I find out she is a 
motherless girl, or the. daughter of a drunkard — who wouldn't 
care what became of his girl — or the daughter of a widow, 
and that she is a day over the age of consent, then I begin my 
work. If she is a church girl, I play the pious act for all it's 
worth — go to church and prayer-meeting with her — and they 
are the easiest kind to fool, because they think I'm religious and 
wouldn't do wrong for anything,^ and they never 'get on' to my 
scheme till it's too late. 

" Most all these country girls want to go to the city to work, 
and so I play the employment racket to perfection ; and some 
evening when I'm sitting beside her, I take out of my pocket 
a letter from Kitty, who, I pretend, is my sister, and I read it 
to the girl. It begins, 'My Dear Brother Frank,' and then she 
tells me a lot of home news, and then says: 'Oh, by the way, 
haven't you found that nice young girl you are going to send 
me. for a companion? I wish you would hurry and find her; 
I'm so lonely here. Husband is traveling all the time, and I 
want somebody for company. Tell her I don't want to make a 
servant of her, but I just want a nice lady's companion, and I'll 
take her to parties and the opera, and treat her just as though 
she were my daughter, and I'll pay good salary, too. Now, 
when you find a pretty girl, just pay her fare, and send her 
along. Telegraph me, and the coachman and I will meet her 
at the train, and bring her right to our beautiful home.' 

"Why, she is so anxious to get that place, and her eyes snap 
with delight as she says, ' Oh, do you think I would suit your 
sister?' 

"And I look at her beautiful face and figure, and say, 'Yes, 
indeed, you will suit my sister.' And then I whisper to myself, 
and put twenty-five dollars into my own pocket, and the next 
train sends her on the way to Kitty." — The Traffic in Girls, 
by Charlton Edholm, pp. J7~J9> 

Only demons could inspire such work, and only men who 



126 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

are under the beguiling influence of demons would yield them- 
selves as agents to do it. The same person gives another item 
in his nefarious work, as follows :■ — 

''Sometimes you have to pretend you are going to marry 
the girl. You see it's an easy thing to make these little fifteen- 
year-old girls love you. Just take them buggy riding a few 
times, and talk sweet to them, and they would give their life lor 
you. But . . . this love business does make a fellow feel 
mighty sneaking mean. I tell you the last girl I sent Kitty, I 
had to get her that way. She was a little orphan thing, and 
just longing for somebody to love, and to love her; and I told 
her I did love her, and I kissed her tears away when she told 
me about how lonely she had been since mother died, and I 
told her I would marry her, and we would be so happy. And 
so I told her just to go down to my sister Kitty's, and get her 
wedding clothes made, and I would be down in six weeks to 
marry her. And she was so happy, and trusted me so, and 
clung about my neck, and whispered, between her kisses, 'Now 
do hurry, darling; for every hour will be an age until you come, 
and I love you so — I love you so.' And, I tell you, . . . 
I just wished somebody would blow my head off for such a 
devilish piece of business." 

"Oh, . . . did you really send her ? " 

"Of course I did, and Kitty told me they had ... a 
time with her, for she fought and cried so; but Kitty said she 
was so pretty she would give me fifty dollars for her, and that 
a big, rich man paid her five hundred dollars for her. Poor little 
thing! It's a shame, for she loved me so!" — Id., pp. jp, 40. 

Words are impotent and meaningless when one seeks to 
express the feelings that are aroused by the knowledge of such 
fiendish acts. What depths of depravity have been reached by 
the man who will work upon the tender emotions of matri- 
monial love to ensnare his victims! And what still deeper 
degradation is his who purchases her as the unwilling instrument 



THE SOCIAL VICE. 1 27 

of his vile lust! Talk of the days of slavery ! Slavery bears no 
comparison to imprisonment in such far worse than beastly 
sensuality. I 

Many of these "big, rich" men that pay such vast sums for 
these children have little girls of their own ; and it would seem 
that their paternal instincts would rise up in revolt against 
treating another father's child so shamefully. What a blessing 
it would be if all these men could have the experience that 
a father in one of the large western cities had! He had 
promised to pay the mistress of a house of ill-fame a large sum 
if she would secure him an innocent and beautiful little girl. 
The mistress succeeded, and sent him word to come. When 
he entered the room in which the struggling and terrorized girl 
was imprisoned, what was his shock of surprise and shame to 
have two arms thrown about his neck and a familiar voice 
cry out: "O papa, how did you ever find me here? I am so 
glad you have come to save me." The shock was sufficient to 
turn that man from his course of sin, and to lead him to devote 
his life to saving from such a fate the children of other fathers 
and mothers. 

But, you ask, how can such evils be carried on in a 
civilized land? Why is not the law invoked, and the evil 
stopped? Here, again, is where the corruption of the officers 
of the law serves these vile persons in carrying on their traffic 
of shame. The laws in most localities are against houses of 
ill-fame, and do not allow women to go upon the street to invite 
men into their abodes of vice; but the policeman is bribed, 
or perhaps it would be nearer the truth to say that the police- 
man takes it upon himself to license vice and sensuality. Upon 
this subject the Lexow Committee reported: — 

"The system had reached such a perfection in detail that 
the inmates of the several houses were numbered and classified, 
and a ratable charge placed upon each proprietor in proportion 
to the number of inmates, or in cases of houses of assignation 



128 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

the number of rooms occupied and the prices charged, reduced 
to a monthly rate, which was collected within a few days of the 
first of each month during the year. This was true, apparently, 
with reference to all disorderly houses, except in the case of a 
few specially favored ones. The prices ran from $25 to $50 
monthly, depending upon the considerations aforesaid, besides 
fixed sums for the opening of new houses or the resumption of 
'business' in old or temporarily abandoned houses, and for 
'initiation fees' designed as an additional gratuity to captains 
upon their transfer into new precincts. The established fee for 
opening and initiation appears to have been $500. 

"Thus it appears that transfers of captains, ostensibly made 
for the purpose of reform and of enforcing the discontinuance 
of the practise, the prevalence of which seems to have been 
generally understood, resulted only in the extortion from these 
criminal places of additional blackmail. 

" As an evidence of the perfect system to which this traffic 
has been reduced, your committee refers to that part of the 
testimony which shows that in more than one instance the 
police officials refused to allow keepers of disorderly houses to 
discontinue their business, threatening them with persecution if 
they attempted so to do, and substantially expounding the prop 
osition that they were for the purpose of making money to share 
with the police. . . . 

"The evidence establishes, furthermore, that not only the 
proprietors of disorderly houses paid for their illegal privileges, 
but the outcasts of society paid patrolmen on post for permission 
to solicit on the public highways, dividing their gains with them, 
and often, as appears by proof, when brought before the police 
magistrates and committed to the penitentiary for disorderly 
conduct, in default of bail, they compounded their sentence, and 
secured bail by paying $10 or $15 to the clerk of the court, or 
his agents, and were then released again, to ply their calling, 
and to become victimized as before. 



THE SOCIAL VICE. I 29 

"The evidence furthermore shows that in some of the 
houses of the character described, visitors were systematically 
robbed; and when they made complaint at the station-house, 
the man detailed to examine into the charge failed to arrest the 
proprietor, and frightened the victim off by threats, and then 
returned and received his compensation, an equal division of the 
plunder between the thief and the officer. 

" The testimony, taken as a whole, conclusively establishes 
that the social evil was, and probably still is, fostered and 
protected by the police of the city, even to the extent of 
inducing its votaries to continue their illegal practises, main- 
taining substantially a partnership with them in the traffic, 
absorbing the largest part of the resulting profit." — Proceedings 
of Lexow Committee, vol. f, pp. 33-36. 

From this report it is seen that the police of New York — 
and New York is not worse than many another large city, as 
has already been shown — are more than partners of the mis- 
tresses of the brothels. These officers assume control, and levy 
a regular monthly tax of from $25 to $50 from each disorderly 
house; and in another part of the committee's report they state 
that each woman who goes on the street to solicit has to pay 
the policeman from fifty cents to a dollar a week, in addition to 
this monthly tax. Then, when the mistress opens her house of 
shame, she has to pay the police captain $500 as an initiation fee, 
and this fee of $500 has to be paid over again every time a new 
captain comes in by exchange from another precinct. Worse 
than all, if the fallen woman seeks to abandon her life of shame, 
the officer refuses to allow it, holding her in her chains of vice 
through fear of official persecution. 

Does not a knowledge of these horrible facts cause the heart 
to burn with indignation ? Does it not make one feel ashamed 
that he belongs to a race that has sunken so low? 

With the police force financially interested in the perpetuation 
and increase of prostitution, it is easy to see why it is so hard 



I30 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

to protect young girls from being dragged into the corrupting 
evils of the brothel. Agents are sent out everywhere to be on 
the lookout for victims to lure into the dens of vice; and often- 
times the very blue coat that is appealed to for protection will 
only help to make the ruin of the victim all the more secure. 
Thousands of the young women who are held in houses of 
ill-fame have been decoyed there, and are kept against their 
will, a thing that could not be done if officers were faithful to 
their high duties and responsibilities. 

Mrs. Edholm says: " I have heard Evangelist Crittenton tell 
on the platform of a professional seducer who was so proud of 
his exploits that he kept a regular book account of the girl's 
name, residence, and time of her ruin, and at last, brought to 
justice, he showed the book, and confessed that he had ruined 
over four hundred girls. Many such monsters are walking our 
streets everyday; and whose little girl is absolutely safe? Is 
yours?" — Traffic in Girls \ p. 27. 

Did it ever occur to the reader that the greed for money, 
on the one hand, and the great destitution, on the other, are 
powerful factors in producing this widespread licentiousness ? 
In our cities the so-called " merchant prince" in many instances 
pays his girl clerks starvation wages, and then deliberately 
teaches them to ,( make up the lack" by giving themselves as 
concubines to the respectable (?) libertine. This statement 
seems too shockingly disgusting to be true; but it is, never- 
theless, a fact. I will subjoin a few statements that will bring 
this matter more forcibly before the reader than anything I can 
write. Mr. B. O. Flower, in an article in the Arena, February, 
1895, says: — 

"A lady physician, when discussing the struggles of poor 
girls, said to me: 'Two girls were at my office last night. They 
room together, and one had a severe cough, for which she 
wanted treatment. It was not their first visit, and I felt 
impelled to question the invalid, as I learned she was living a 



THE SOCIAL VICE. I3I 

life which would render any hope of a cure illusive, if indeed a 
cure was to be desired. At length the girl broke down, and in 
a burst of confidence told me the story of her life. She had 
secured a position in a large store. Her salary was too low to 
admit of her paying board and dressing as neatly as the " floor- 
walker" wished the girls in the store to dress. One day the 
floor- walker said, "You must dress better, or you will have to 
leave." She replied she could not dress any better on the 
wages she was receiving. He said: "I can introduce you to 
a young man who will see that you are well clothed. But if 
you stay here, you must dress better.'" It was a long story of 
a struggle for virtue and life; but at last the girl succumbed. 
The young man ruined her, as he had ruined the girl who was 
her roommate at the time of her visit to the physician." 

Rev. Louis A. Banks, in his book "White Slaves," has a 
chapter on "The Relation of Wages to Morals," in which 
he says : — ■ 

"I received a letter from a gentleman in Conway, N. H., this 
week, who writes, not knowing that I was intending to discuss 
this question: 'After you have given the sweating system one 
round, can you not take up the question of the girls working in 
the big stores ? I have just heard a well-authenticated account 
of a man high in authority in one of the largest stores, suggesting 
the way to ruin to a young girl from the country, who said, when 
she learned what her wages were to be, that they would not 
be sufficient to givQ her a bare support. This not only shows 
the attitude of these wealthy merchants to the souls of their 
working-girls, but it shows that they are conscious of their 
attitude, and have deliberately chosen to take it.' I am told, 
upon undoubtedly credible testimony, that another young woman 
who came to Boston from the country, and sought work in 
several stores, was so outraged at the vile suggestions which 
were made to her about means of adding to her salary, that 
she went back to the house of her friend — a lady of as high 



132 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

standing as any in the city — and cried and sobbed all night 
long. She said she would beg or starve before she would 
submit herself to such outrage again. 

"It is impossible to turn these incidents aside as exaggera- 
tions. They are horrible, I know; but the most horrible thing 
about them is that they are true." — Pp. ijo, iji. 

Some time since the New York World contained a most 
touching and pathetic appeal from a young man, who, on 
account of continued illness, had lost his position, and was 
unable to protect the young lady he had chosen to make his 
life companion. The appeal reads as follows: — ■ 

"In the interest of humanity I beg you will find space for 
this appeal — an appeal for protection for a young girl struggling 
against heavy odds in the battle of life- — -an appeal for some one 
to show her that vice is not always triumphant over virtue; for 
some one to prove that it is not always necessary for a penniless 
girl to sacrifice purity and honor to gain a livelihood in this 
modern Babylon. 

" I seek only the protection of some Christian family or 
home for one who will not be a burden, for one whose own life 
has become burdensome to herself from the continual persecu- 
tions she has had to resist, even in private houses and other 
places where her lot has been cast while striving to earn a 
living, and who even now is in daily peril of contamination 
under circumstances where the word of a defenseless girl would 
be powerless against the machinations of conscienceless fiends. 
What mother will stretch out her hand to save this unprotected 
daughter, not for charity's but for mercy's sake?" 

The editor of the World said concerning the foregoing 
appeal : — ■ 

" It is a cry of distress from one of the humble orders of life, 
and is the more moving and instructive because such cries are 
usually suppressed by the conditions which cause them. There 
are doubtless thousands of similar cases of young girls driven by 



^ 



ft- s 




THE SOCIAL VICE. 1 35 

the stress of poverty to hold perilous positions, and to continually 
expose themselves to repeated temptations of their remorseless 
employers. It is small wonder that under the prolonged strain, 
subjected to all forms of enticement and even intimidation, human 
nature often wearies of the protracted efforts of resistance, and 
the victim falls at last a prey to the crafts and assaults of a 
treacherous sensuality." 

That the pollutions of lust are not confined to this country 
may be seen from the following statement from Lady Henry 
Somerset in regard to the condition of London. Speaking of 
the drink habit, so universal in London among women and girls 
as well as men and boys, she says: — 

" It is impossible to overrate the influence, the soul-destroying 
influence, this has had upon the homes of the poor; for it is by 
this, I am convinced, that the idea of right and wrong has come 
to be hopelessly confused when it is not absolutely lost. It is 
not uncommon to find a mother who since marriage has been a 
faithful wife, and perhaps before that a virtuous girl, looking on 
with indifference while her daughter 'goes on the streets' and is 
lost in the unnumbered legion of victims hourly sacrificed to the 
demon of vice. She may regret the fact, as a mother in a 
wealthier station might regret her daughter marrying beneath 
her; but there is no shock, no natural horror, at the wanton 
marring of God's fairest handiwork, a woman's soul. In our 
long worship of mammon, the shame of poverty and the shame 
of sin have got confused. To the poor in their misery the 
burden of disgrace is but a slight addition to the load they 
already carry."- — North American Review, Jamiary, i8g2. 

The foregoing quotations state the facts as every well- 
informed person knows them to exist, and they could not be 
stated in more chaste, and at the same time clear and forcible 
language. 

While the degrading depths and appalling extent of the 
more open and public sensuality is so fully set forth, there is still 



I36 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

i 

a more corrupt depth to this social cancer. A lady physician of 
high intellectual and moral worth, and one, too, who has had 
exceptional opportunities for knowing whereof she spoke, was 
asked what she regarded as the most pronounced root-cause of 
present-day sensualism. Her reply, as given in the Arena, 
was: "Of course there are many producing causes of immo- 
rality ; but back of all, or shall I say, the tap-root of immorality 
to-day, is found in prostihition within the marriage relation, 
which for centuries has produced children of lust, and these 
children in turn have brought forth their kind, until the moral 
fabric is weakened throughout civilization." 

In the same article the Arena quotes from a state W. C. T. 
U. president as follows: — 

" Prostitution outside of marriage, and the unspeakable evils 
resulting therefrom, are as a drop to the unfathomable, immeas- 
urable ocean of evils that spring directly from the marriage 
relation. . . . For many years, as organizer and lecturer 
for the W. C. T. U., I have been brought into the most familiar 
relation with hundreds of families outside as well as inside the 
White Ribbon army. Being a mother and grandmother, there 
have come to me, unsought, confidences from young wives and 
mothers that have filled me with deepest pity, and at the same 
time with unquenchable indignation." 

There is much similar testimony in the same article, quoted 
from persons whose wide range of observation and experience 
enables them to know whereof they affirm. These statements 
are not quoted to prove the truthfulness of a theory. They 
are presented for the purpose of showing that existing facts are 
recognized and deplored. Through lust in the marriage rela- 
tion, as well as outside of it, children are born into the world, 
and a long line of heredity culminates in the Sodom vices of 
this age. 

On the fences by the roadside, on the walls of public build- 
ings, and in the columns of nearly every paper in the land, we 



THE SOCIAL VICE. 1 37 

are constantly met with ingenious advertisements of nostrums 
offered as a panacea for the numerous diseases produced by 
sensuality. Such extensive advertising costs large sums of 
money, and it would not be continued if it did not pay; and the 
thing that makes it pay is the prevalence of the debasing and 
disease-producing sins of Sodom. If no other evidence was 
given, there is enough in this one item of the extensive adver- 
tisements of remedies to cure these vile diseases, to show how 
full of vice the world must be. 

Can there be any doubt that we are living in the days on 
which the Saviour fixed His prophetic eyes when He said, "As 
it was in the days of Noah ; . likewise also as it was in 

the days of Lot; . . . even thus shall it be in the day when 
the Son of man is revealed" (Luke 17 : 26-30)? 

And how forcibly do the words of the prophet Hosea come 
to mind: — 

"Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel; for the 
Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, 
because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God 
in the land. By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, 
and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth 
blood. Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that 
dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and 
with the fowls of heaven ; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall 
be taken away." Hosea 4 : 1-3. 

"Swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and commit - 
ting adultery" have broken out, and truly "blood toucheth 
blood." Sodom, with its vile pollutions, is being reproduced all 
about us. And who can estimate how soon it must be decreed 
that the pure eyes of God can endure the scene no longer. 
How cheering the thought that Jesus is soon to come and bring 
this reign of sin to an eternal end ! 

But those who are found corrupting themselves at His 
coming, will be destroyed by the brightness of His holiness and 



I38 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

purity, that will be so gloriously revealed in that day; and so He 
has faithfully pointed out all these things, in order that we may 
know and avoid the dangers of these times, and be ready to 
meet Him. Now He is yearning over every sinner, no matter 
how vile and polluted, and is earnestly calling each one to 
repentance, that He may purify his heart and clothe him with 
the white garments of righteousness. 

The sinner who has plunged to the very lowest depth still 
finds in Jesus his Friend. "For we have not an High Priest 
which can not be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; 
but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. 
Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we 
may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." 
Heb. 4:15, 16. 

Think of it, O soul burdened with a load of sin ! Jesus so 
loves you that He took upon Himself our flesh, — this flesh 
that is so full of the tendency and desire to sin, — and all this 
that Fie might "be touched with the feelingoi our infirmities." 
So, then, tempted and sinful one, whoever and wherever you are, 
the Lord of glory is "touched" with your feelings; and when 
every earthly friend has forsaken you, know that He is ever 
your Friend. He knows all about your difficulties and trials; 
and since He knows your case so perfectly, if you will only 
trust Him, He will administer just the consolation and help 
that are needed. 

The scribes and Pharisees of old, with their manufactured 
dignity and sham holiness, "brought unto Him a woman taken 
in adultery," and asked Him what should be done with her. 
She stood trembling before Him, and no doubt expected to 
hear Him condemn her to death; but the Pharisees, with the 
pure and discerning eye of the Master piercing the inmost 
secrets of their hearts, were told, " He that is without sin among 
you, let him first cast a stone at her." Conscience-smitten by 
the irresistible sense of their guilt, they began one by one to 



THE SOCIAL VICE. 



139 



steal away from His presence. When she whom they thought 
too vile to live was left alone with her Lord, He asked her, 
"Hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. 
And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee; go, and 
sin no more." See John 8:3-11. 

When Jesus said to that fallen woman, "Go, and sin no 
more," there was power in that word both to cleanse her from 
all past sin, and also to keep her from falling again so long as 
she continued to trust the Lord. Jesus hated sin worse than it 
was possible for those Pharisees to hate it; but He knew how 
to separate the sin from the sinner, and to speak peace to the 
burdened soul by saying, "Go, and sin no more." 

He is coming very soon to destroy all evil, and at that time, 
if wickedness is still found in our hearts, the only thing for us 
will be destruction, with our sins. But, oh, He is now inviting 
us to come to Him, confessing our sinfulness, that He may 
cleanse us, and make us so pure that we may greet Him with 
rejoicing when He comes! 

"To-day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts." 





hiillffofi 







CHAPTER FOURTEEN. 

THE question is asked, "When the Son of man cometh, 
shall He find faith on the earth?" Luke 18:8. The 
very form of the expression shows that the Saviour's 
question is an emphatic statement of the great lack of genuine 
faith among those living at the close of time. This fact is 
further confirmed by His answer to the question, "What shall 
be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world?" 
The Master says, " Because iniquity shall abound, the love of 
many shall wax cold." Matt. 24:3, 12. Then a great lack of 
faith, the abounding of iniquity, and the love of many waxing 
cold, are sufficiently prominent in the last days to be mentioned 
as among the signs of the Saviour's coming. 

Another scripture is to the point in this connection. It 
reads: "This know also, that in the last days perilous times 
shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, 
covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, 
unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, 
false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are 
good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more 
than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying 
the power thereof; from such turn away." 2 Tim. 3: 1-5. 

This scripture tells us plainly that "perilous times shall 
(140) 



MAINTAINING FORM BUT DENYING POWER. I4I 

come," and just as plainly does it say that these perils shall be 
"in the last days." No matter what our views may have been 
to the contrary, we should now surrender to the statement of 
God's Word. What God says of the case is correct; what He 
has pointed to as signs of the end will surely appear, and we 
may see them if we will. 

There is another point in this text quoted from Timothy 
that we must not pass by. The apostle not only tells us that 
"in the last days perilous times shall come," but adds, " For 
men shall be lovers of their own selves," etc. The word "for" 
in this connection is equivalent to "because." Then the perils 
of the last days are brought about "for," or "because," men are 
so filled with covetousness, pride, and all the rest of the long list 
of the sins mentioned in this text. Note particularly that the 
text says that those engaged in these sins of darkest hue, are at 
the same time "having a form of godliness, but denying the 
power thereof." The world does not have a "form of godli- 
ness." Only a backslidden church could be in such a condition 
— a church filled with "lovers of pleasures more than lovers of 
God." When the things mentioned in this text appear, we may 
know that the "last days" are reached. For these days will be 
made "perilous" by the prevalence of evil. "Iniquity shall 
abound," and over all the mass of sin those who, by a lack of 
faith in God's Word, are denying His power, will throw the 
hypocritical robes of a "form of godliness." 

With these quotations from Matthew, Luke, and Paul agrees 
the statement of Peter: "Knowing this first, that there shall 
come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, 
and saying, Where is the promise of His coming? for since the 
fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the 
beginning of the creation." 2 Peter 3:3, 4. 

As the doctrine of the second coming of Christ is preached, 
there will be "scoffers." And, to be sure, since they are "walk- 
ing after their own lusts," they will say in derision, "Where is 



I42 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

the promise of His coming?" But the believer in the sure 
Word of God will not be affected by these scoffers, except to 
see in them the evidence of the Master's coming, and, in pity 
for them, to work and pray that their hearts may be touched by 
divine grace, and turned away from their seoffings to a Saviour's 
tender love. 

How faithfully do these scriptures disclose the perils of the 
"last days" ! How pointedly they tell us that sin shall be glossed 
over by the "form of godliness;" that faith will be almost want- 
ing; that the "love of many shall wax cold" — and all because 
"iniquity shall abound" — and that amidst it all will be found the 
"scoffers," making light of the "promise of His coming"! 

With these scriptures before us, telling us so plainly that in 
the "last days" "godliness" will become a mere form among 
the great multitude, we have only to look about us to see the 
literal fulfilment. 

The thing that we naturally expect when we go to the house 
of God is to hear the preaching of the Gospel "in the demon- 
stration of the Spirit and of power." The theme that should 
be dwelt upon is the " Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin 
of the world." But in how many of our churches is the 
preaching of the simple Gospel sadly lacking ! I have met 
hundreds of people, representing all our various denominations, 
who recognize and deplore this fact. 

But why this lack of power in the church ? Why do we see 
only the "form" when we should expect to find the life and 
power belonging to the Master's church ? There is one little 
statement in a text already quoted that furnishes the answer. 
Observe that it is said of those who have this "form of godli- 
ness, but deny the power thereof," that they are "lovers of 
pleasures more than lovers of God." The pleasure that God 
offers is that which comes from helping those who are in need. 
It is to deny self, and do right. There is an infinite joy and an 
eternal satisfaction in following the Lord's way. But by those 



MAINTAINING FORM BUT DENYING POWER. 1 43 

living in the last days the transient pleasures of the world are 
chosen instead; and to such an extent is their pleasure-seeking 
carried, even while maintaining a "form of godliness," that it 
marks one of the distinctive signs of our times. Seeking for 
pleasure for the mere sake of selfish enjoyment has ever been 
the pursuit of the world; but now the craze takes possession of 
the church, and plunges into eternal ruin all who refuse to heed 
the warning. 

Who is there to-day who has not been impressed with the 
efforts made by so many of the churches and in so many places 
to supply amusement? This is done, of course, ostensibly to 
"raise money for the cause," or "to attract the young people 
to the church." Rev. Mr. Hale, who has made extensive 
observations in regard to church entertainments, gives an out- 
line of the results in the Forum of December, 1896, of what 
came under his notice during that year. He mentions a church 
in Massachusetts which produced in regular theatrical fashion 
"Violet in Fairyland" and "A Comedy of Errors up to Date." 
A number of churches in the same state joined in giving a 
"laughable performance" entitled "Aunt Jemima's Album." 
The young people in a church in Iowa gave a " New Woman 
Social." "The Mystic Midgets" is produced by a church in 
another quarter. And so his list continues. These are but a 
few of the semi-theatrical performances that are being given all 
the time in our churches all over the land. A few paragraphs 
selected in full from Mr. Hale's trenchant pen will not be out 
of place here. He says: — 

" I have, however, no hesitation in commending — as a 
successful exhibition of impudent and attractive indecency — the 
New Woman Social given, according to the New York papers, 

by the male members of the — — Society of . Some of 

the more engaging toilets worn . . . are described in the 
despatch: *W. F. Stimpson, in lilac bloomers with lace trim- 
mings, was irresistible, as was E. H. Taylor in a Mother 



144 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

Hubbard, and with a weeping-willow plume. E. C. Seeley wore 
shiny black bloomers set off with a gorgeous sash. J. Curtis 
Martin wore red bloomers and an angelic smile. Olin Hender- 
son, in check bloomerettes, Ward Thompson, in a shirt-waist, 
and W. H. Dean, with balloon sleeves, were also conspicuous.' 

"This is, possibly, funny. But for monumental godlessness 
made endurable by no saving grace of humor, for simian imbe- 
cility, for supreme and inimitable folly unmarred by the slightest 
suggestion either of common decency or ordinary self-respect, 
for groveling baseness and depraved vulgarity, ■ — the Trilby 
Party, otherwise the Foot Social, otherwise the Ankle Auction, 
stands at the head of the church entertainments for the year. 
. . . In the Trilby Social . . . the young ladies of the 
church display their feet — let us say and be polite — from 
behind a curtain. . . . Men in front of the curtain view 
what is displayed of one female after another, and then bid for 
the privilege of taking her to supper. 

"The pastor of the church of , Michigan, having 

entertained firemen, veterans, and blacksmiths, outdid himself 
in a 'Barbers' Sunday evening.' Scissors, hair dye, cups, soaps, 
brushes and combs, mirrors and washes, tastefully arranged on 
the walls and platform, with festoons of towels and rosettes of 
brilliantine and bay-rum bottles, gave a homelike appearance 
to the church. Sitting in a barber's chair, the pastor gathered 
inspiration for his lecture, and then, rising, he pressed home, in 
the choicest terms of the tonsorial profession, the lesson of the 
'razor and the strop.' " — William Bayard Hale, in the Forum, 
December, 1896. 

These brief quotations give but a faint picture of what every- 
body knows to be the condition to-day of the church as a whole. 
There is scarcely a community in all the country where the 
churches are not vying with each other in producing these 
silly amusements. If we were to go to a show or theater, we 
should naturally expect to see such performances. But have we 



MAINTAINING FORM BUT DENYENG POWER. 1 45 

actually reached the time when the professed church of Christ is 
showing herself to be imbecile by the worse than silly shows 
and counterfeit theatricals that she is giving, to the infinite 
satisfaction of Satan, while claiming that it is all done in the 
sacred name of Christ? Who can read of or behold such things 
without a sense of the deepest sorrow and shame ? 

If we did not know it to be so, we could hardly give credence 
to the thought that young ladies supposed to have the moral 
worth that causes them to connect with our churches, would 
deliberately make bare their feet (we express it as modestly as 
possible), and, sitting behind a curtain, allow a promiscuous 
drove of men to pass along viewing the scene, and bid for the 
one he would like to take to supper. How can any one with 
ordinary respectability, leaving out of the question the refine- 
ments of a pure Christian life, think of engaging in such debasing 
amusements, and presenting the proceeds as an offering to Him 
who is of "purer eyes than to behold evil," and who can not 
"look on iniquity"? Can it be that our churches are no longer 
a haven of safety for our boys and girls, and that when their 
inexperienced feet are led to the sanctuary dedicated to the 
Most High, it is only to teach them to be immodest, to say the 
least, instead of filling their minds and hearts with the purest 
desires and noblest aspirations? When so many of our churches 
thus join hands with the world in seeking amusement, and 
some of them carry their silly plays even to the very border- 
land of Sodom, what is there left to hope for? — There is just 
one bright dawning above the horizon of evil, and that is the 
sure promise of the coming Saviour. And while we have a 
few lingering days of probationary time, let us seek to win to the 
Master as many as we can, so that He can save them from the 
certain destruction into which this world is so rapidly plunging. 

God's power is just as great now as it was on the day of 
Pentecost, when the people were drawn to hear the preaching 
of the simple Gospel, not by shows and sensational parade, not 



I46 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

by the thought of fun and very questionable amusements, but 
by the Spirit of the living Saviour. That power is waiting still 
for all who will receive it. How can we more effectually deny 
the power of God than by resorting to amusements to draw 
people to the church? How sad it is that the church should 
be so blinded as to be willing to change the experiences and 
realities of Pentecost for the modern church fair and theatrica 
display! 

There are many who realize the situation, to some extent at 
least, and arecrving- out against this terrible condition into which 
the church of Christ has fallen. Pages of testimony. might be 
given from these, but only a few paragraphs are necessary. 
For the reader has doubtless reflected much on what he knows 
of this evil existing all about him, for the deplorable condition 
of the church is not confined to a few localities, but is altogether 
too universal. 

Rev. Walter A. Evans says: " Evangelical Christianity, 
born anew in the German Reformation, baptized under the 
hands of the Puritans and the Wesleys, has already so far 
apostatized that another reformation is needed to fit the church 
for the work of the greater century soon to dawn. The cold 
formalism of a utilitarian religiousness, ornate with pomp and 
ceremony, makes of the church of the present day, to a very 
large degree, a valley of dry bones greater than that which 
Ezekiel saw, and as sorely in need of a divine afflatus to give it 
life. Social discontent, born of pinching poverty on the one 
hand and riotous riches on the other, gambling, intemperance, 
commercial dishonor, political corruption, and the whole pestif- 
erous brood of evils which prey upon the nation and threaten 
its peace if not its perpetuity as a free republic — they all find 
their coveted opportunity, when they do not find their abetment, 
in the worldly ideals, the grasping covetousness, the denomina- 
tional pride, the sectarian selfishness, the moral cowardice, and 
the spiritual apathy of the church. 



MAINTAINING FORM BUT DENYING POWER. l/\J 

"Why is it that there are so many lodges to every church, 
and that so large a part of the humanitarian and reformatory 
forces that make for human weal in the present life, are centering 
outside the church? Why is it that, as every minister of the 
Gospel knows is the case, so large and increasing a body of 
noble, honorable, and high-minded men of every community, 
men who fear God and revere Jesus Christ, are standing 
studiously aloof from the church ? . . . 

" But some one will exclaim: 'Our organizations! Look at 
our new organizations, millions strong!' To which one might 
fittingly reply in the words of . . . B. F. Mills, 'They are 
very deceiving.' Or one might, by way of amplification, say 
that multiplication of organizations within the church, wisely 
constructed to fit the social instincts of youthful human nature, 
colossal conventions worked up systematically after the most 
approved methods of a political canvass for twelve months 
previous — they may cause a great buzzing of wheels and rattle 
of machinery that looks very like spiritual vigor. But all this 
machinery, while it can use power, can not generate it. It can 
neither repair a defective boiler nor replenish a furnace, the real 
trouble with which is that the fire is going out. The adding of 
another wheel to the machinery does not increase the power. 
Nay, is not this unprecedented multiplication of organizations 
itself a striking sign of weakness and spiritual degeneration? 
May it not be, after all, an attempt to brace a man on his feet 
by artificial means, when the fact is he is suffering from heart- 
failure ? What is the matter with the old bottle that it won't 
hold wine? The church of the apostles, the Puritans, and the 
early Methodists turned the world upside down — not by organ- 
ization, for they had practically none; but by the irresistible 
power of deep moral conviction, unquestioning faith, and a 
spiritual unction that was the outcropping of a new and divine 
life. But to-day, instead of one chasing a thousand and two 
putting ten thousand to flight, it takes a thousand church- 



I48 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

members to chase one evil, and then they don't catch it — 
unless 'there is something in it.' . 

"The church is made the decoy of the hunters of fortunes; 
it is utilized as a screen of scoundrels. . . . Yea, it has 
become a great tree, and respectable sinners — respectability is 
a sine qua non — legal robbers, and pious frauds lodge under 
the shadow of it. . . . One can not single out any one 
denomination as being especially guilty of exalting pelf above 
piety. The same conditions widely prevail, and one is prob- 
ably as bad as another." — Walter Allen Evans, in the Arena, 
October, 1895. 

How pleasing it would be if we could truly say that the 
statements of Mr. Evans are overdrawn ! But every one who 
thinks, knows that what he says in the foregoing paragraphs is 
only too literally true. Do we not see that the church, filled 
with all the iniquities mentioned by the apostle, has in reality 
only "a form of godliness," while "denying the power thereof"? 
God has told us what would take place in the last days, and we 
see it now right before our eyes. 

What an opportunity the church is losing ! Social discon- 
tent, arising from various causes, is looming up on every hand ; 
and instead of the church standing forth amid the gathering 
storm as a beacon-light and guide in the way of righteous- 
ness, we see her shorn of her strength, lying prostrate in the 
toils of sin. 

Says Professor Herron, of Iowa College: "Revolution of 
some sort is not far off. The social change will bring forth 
either the revolution of love or the tragedy and wo of a leader- 
ship inspired by a love of revolution. Either a revival of love, 
an outpouring of love through the Messianic fellowship of some 
vast social sacrifice, or a universal French revolution will come. 
Either a religious movement, producing a revival such as the 
prophets dimly or never dreamed of, or blood such as never 
flowed, will remit the sins of the existing order. For a religious 



MAINTAINING FORM BUT DENYING POWER. 1 49 

revival springing from some vast and wondrous social love, 
Christendom waits in fear, anxiety, and expectancy. 

" Except its manifest subservience to wealth, nothing more 
clearly indicates the unmoral influence of religion than the con- 
temptuous meaning which has come to be attached to the word 
'holiness.' By the ( holy man' is meant, in the popular thought, 
simply no man at all; while the word primitively meant a whole 
human man, normally fulfilling all the natural functions of his 
life in their wholeness. 

"With the present tendency, the evolution of the better 
society is likely to be the church's disgrace, and not its glory, 
with the religion of Jesus finding some other channel of expres- 
sion than the church as a result. Nobody any longer conceives 
of religiousness as being an indication of righteousness. The 
church, as a whole, does not know what Jesus taught, and, 
so far as it knows, does not believe His teachings practicable." 
— Arena, December, i8g^. 

How appalling the thought! The world is acknowledged, 
not only by Professor Herron, but by thousands of the most 
thoughtful men and women of our time, to be speeding on to 
an awful revolution, bidding fair to outdo the French Reign of 
Terror. And in the face of this crisis, the church, instead of 
being awake and active in rescuing the perishing and warning 
the ignorant, is filled with those who are "lovers of pleasures 
more than lovers of God," having only "a form of godliness," 
while by indulgence in sin they are "denying the power 
thereof." With these facts before us, how forcible the prophetic 
interrogation, "Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, 
shall He find faith on the earth?" And is it any wonder that 
our Lord, when viewing this time, said, "Because iniquity shall 
abound, the love of many shall wax cold"? 

Any one who is candid with himself must admit, in the 
moments of his soberest reflection, that the world is indeed in 
a terrible condition, and that the church, taken as a whole, 



150 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

I 

instead of being awake to the situation, is wasting its time in 
childish amusement and selfish folly. When the faces of the 
bravest men are growing pale before the conditions in which 
our world is floundering, instead of being able to tell them that 
we have reached the death throes of this reign of sin, and 
raising the warning note, ''Escape for thy life," the pleasure- 
loving professor is dreamily sounding the sleepy notes of 
" peace and safety." And how natural that it should be so with 
one who has only a "form of godliness"! The voice of God, 
speaking to the very soul, is endeavoring to awaken the con- 
science to a correct appreciation of the situation. But, being 
"lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God," they cling to 
the "form of godliness," and quiet the disturbed conscience by 
saying, "Peace, peace, when there is no peace." But do not 
forget that the Lord, when speaking of this time, has said, 
"When they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruc- 
tion cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; 
and they shall not escape." 1 Thess. 5:3. 

It is a cheering thought, however, that, notwithstanding all 
the efforts of Satan to drown the whole church in pleasure and 
sin in these last days, the Lord still has some in every com- 
munion who have not given their hearts to the service of Baal ; 
and by these the voice of warning must be given. Fearful 
odds, should we take our view from the human standpoint, will 
have to be met; but, with the voice of a conqueror, our great 
Leader says, " All power is given unto Me in heaven and in 
earth;" and, trusting in His omnipotent strength in this time of 
greatest peril, "we must gather warmth from the coldness of 
others, courage from their cowardice, and. loyalty from their 
treason." 

There are souls everywhere who are crying out for the living 
God, and they are perplexed by the distressing condition of 
things that they see around them. Reader, will you not act as 
a light-bearer for God, and assist in pointing all such to that sure 



MAINTAINING FORM BUT DENYING POWER. 



J 5i 



Word that so unmistakably shows all these things to be the 
tokens by which we may know that "He is near, even at the 
doors"? Let all the world know of His love, and that He is 
now earnestly inviting every one to accept the wedding garment, 
His own perfect righteousness, and thus be made ready to enter 
into the eternal bliss of the redeemed. 




V 







CHAPTER FIFTEEN. 



IN the preceding chapter some attention has been given to 
the scripture which shows that a love of pleasure under a 

"form of godliness" is one of the producing causes of peril 
in the last days. But the subject deserves more particular 
consideration; for it is the corrupting influences in the world 
beneath that are used to bring the church down from her proper 
sphere of holiness. And when in any particular age the church 
becomes corrupt, it is because of her failure to resist the pre- 
vailing sins and vices of that time. 

So, then, since the love of pleasure among those who have 
a "form of godliness" will do its part in making times perilous 
in this age, what a great prevailing passion for the follies of 
mere fun will be manifested in the world at large ! It is true 
that humanity has ever been given to the pursuit of pleasure. 
It is natural and God-given for men to wish to enjoy them- 
selves; but it has always been the case that a great many will 
look no higher than the follies of transient and debasing amuse- 
ments. But in a special sense will- the world be given to 
pleasure at the close of time. Marvelous indeed are the great 
inventions and the general material progress of this age; and 
(152) 



LOVERS OF PLEASURE. 1 53 

the extent to which the people of to-day are given to fun and 
pleasure is no less conspicuous. 

Speaking of the days that immediately precede His coming, 
the Master says: "Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time 
your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, 
and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. 
For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face 
of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that 
ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that 
shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man." 
Luke 21 134-36. 

Words of warning are directed against "surfeiting" (which 
is another word for overeating) and "drunkenness." In Mat- 
thew the same evil is spoken against, as follows: — 

" But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My 
lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to smite his fellow- 
servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; the lord of 
that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, 
and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him 
asunder, and appoint him his portion w T ith the hypocrites; there 
shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Matt. 24:48-51. 

Feasting and strong drink are two of the most constant 
companions of worldly pleasure, and the Lord has taken pains 
to warn us against these evils. The Father in heaven, who "so 
loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that 
whosoever belie veth in Him should not perish, but have ever- 
lasting life," seeks to lead men to genuine pleasure and real 
enjoyment; but among the special snares of the evil one, 
prepared for the last days, is the intoxication of illusory pleas- 
ures and sensual gratifications, so that men may not discern 
those things that are for their eternal interest. 

Intemperance is one of the greatest evils of our day. The 
city of Chicago alone consumed $80,000,000 worth of beer in 
twelve months during the last part of 1897 anc ^ tne fi rst P art 



154 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

of 1898; it would be a modest estimate to say that another 
$20,000,000 was spent for other kinds of spirituous liquors, 
making a yearly average of nearly $75 for each man, woman, 
and child in that great city. And Chicago is fairly representa- 
tive of the rest of the cities of the world. 

As soon as it became evident that the United States would 
have possessions in the Philippines and station an army there, 
a Milwaukee brewing company despatched three train-loads, 
aggregating sixty-seven cars, of beer to Manila. This is illus- 
trative of the activity and watchfulness of the traffickers in 
liquor. They are always on the alert for an opening to push 
their business, and do not scruple to put plans in operation to 
create in the rising generation an appetite for drink. 

This has been the generation of temperance agitation. A 
most marvelous work has been accomplished. The change 
in sentiment toward the drink question is truly miraculous. 
Indeed, had it not been for this, it is hard to tell how much 
more terrible the condition of the world would be at the present 
time. Yet in the face of this tidal wave of temperance reform, 
the liquor traffic has organized its forces, and is stronger than 
it ever was; and it is gaining ground every day. Every one 
knows the control that the saloon has of politics. Elections 
are influenced, and legislatures and city councils are under the 
domination of the dealers in strong drink. 

The New York Voice, during the early part of 1898, made 
some most startling exposures respecting the complete control 
the liquor traffic has gained in many of the oldest and most 
influential colleges in the land. In this way the liquor dealers 
are educating the young men and women, who are in turn to be 
educators in the most influential positions in society, to look 
upon the use of strong drink as most proper and genteel. 
What far-sighted cunning is here displayed ! 

The exposures made by the press generally of the " canteen" 
business connected with the army, show another illustration of 



LOVERS OF PLEASURE. 1 55 

both the activity and the power of the saloon men. They 
persuaded the army officers that if they would open "canteens" 
(the army word, by the way, for saloon) in the camp of each 
regiment, the drink business would be under their official control, 
and they could "regulate" it. "For," said they, "the soldier is 
bound to have an occasional glass of beer; and why should he 
not get it in his own camp, where the danger of going on a 
regular spree would be wholly cut off? Then if the beer was 
sold by the direction and consent of the army officers in this 
way, there would be quite a profit that could be used in supplying 
comforts and necessities for the camp." Such was the specious 
reasoning presented, and the "canteen" was allowed to be 
established. 

But it has not worked so nicely as was represented. Most 
shocking and debasing have been the results of introducing 
these camp saloons. Drunken brawls that are a disgrace to 
civilization have been common. And it may not be amiss 
to ask, If this is an age of real goodness — as it pretends to 
be — and if the millennium is really dawning — as is supposed 
by so many — why do not the commanding officers of the army 
put an end to this "canteen" evil among the soldiers? It is in 
their power, by a few simple dashes of the pen, to command 
the ejection of the nuisance from the camp. Some regimental 
officers have done it, and all could do it if they were so disposed. 

Here, again, is seen the influence of the liquor power. This 
traffic controls large sums of money. The liquor business in 
the United States requires a large army, of half a million men; 
and every one of them is a politician. Whoever expects to be 
elected to office must reckon with these dispensers of strong 
drink, and also with the great host of men in the slums and 
elsewhere that are to so great an extent under their control. 
The better element of society has been appealed to again and 
again to rise up against this corruption, and put men in office 
who were wholly upright; but these upright citizens do not 



I56 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

come forward, and the corrupting influences of the saloon are 
growing stronger every day. 

The astounding amount of drunkenness, and the influence of 
the liquor power in these times, are too well known to require 
more extended remark in this connection. When we view the 
situation as it is before our eyes to-day, is it any marvel that 
the Master should have left us the warning, "Take heed to 
yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with 
surfeiting, and drunkenness " ? 

Running after pleasure requires that a great deal of time be 
spent in idleness. And when people are idling away their time 
in amusements, there comes the great temptation to drinking and 
gluttonous feasting. Then along with these evils is that other 
ruinous and debasing practise of gambling. Men want money 
to use in pleasure-seeking; and as they do not wish to take the 
time to work for it honestly, they resort to the races and games 
of chance. Baseball, the horse-race, and many more of the 
great train of pleasure-making devices, are used by the gambler 
to secure money without toil. This is recognized as not only 
an evil, but a veritable craze. It is by no means confined to 
men, nor to any one country; for women, and even children, 
all over the world, are participants in some way in these 
numerous schemes for securing money by chance. Boards of 
trade manipulate and gamble in wheat, corn, and other grains; 
the cotton exchange make similar speculations in other prod- 
ucts of the farm ; and the stock exchange places its stakes on 
the rise and fall of stocks, bonds, etc. 

Members of churches, and men of influence and standing 
in society and in the political field, take their chances on the 
board of trade or the stock exchange; the professed church 
itself conducts "fairs," "raffles," and other forms of church 
lotteries; and with this influence at work in the higher circles, 
is it any wonder that gambling should have become such a 
craze in these times? 



Lovers of pleasure. 157 

It is interesting to note how the promoters of these various 
schemes for pleasure are trying to cover them with a cloak of 
respectable philanthropy. For instance, here is some worthy 
charitable institution in need of funds, and the managers of a 
race-track propose to raise $5,000 or more by giving a day's 
receipts at the gates. Of course everybody is urged to attend, 
"because this is in the interest of charity and humanity." An 
opera company proposes to play for a night in behalf of some 
worthy object, and every one is again urged to attend, " For," 
it is persuasively emphasized, "you can have a lot of fun, 
and then just think that you will be helping the needy at the 
same time." 

It is to the interest of the dispensers of amusements to make 
their races, games, and plays popular. It will not do to have 
the more conscientious part of society look upon them question- 
ingly; and they must be credited with long-headed foresight in 
the course they are pursuing, no matter what opposite attribute 
is suggested as belonging to those who deliberately walk into 
such manifest beguilements. 

No attempt is being made to present statistics or other facts 
to bring before the reader the pleasure-loving craze of this age. 
His mind is doubtless running with lightning speed, in noting 
the races, the games, the operas, and all the rest of the devices 
after which the crowds are flocking for fun. And it is super- 
fluous to go into detail to present evidence when it is standing 
in colossal proportions all around us. There are some who 
find their greatest happiness in the solid business, joys, and 
work of life; but the great mass want fun, and still more and 
more fun. 

The professed church, even, has caught the craze. When 
it is desired to raise money for church purposes, some entertain- 
ment is arranged to draw the people to spend their money for 
"pleasure" and "charity." When the bulwarks that the church 
should present against this evil are thus broken down, the world 



I58 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

plunges still deeper into its follies; for instead of the church 
being a barrier against this growing passion for questionable 
pleasure, it has turned right about face, and has become a 
positive influence in its favor. 

Thus we see that Satan has set the whole world fairly wild 
in running after pleasures — not the pleasures that build up, and 
educate, and refine, and ennoble, but pleasures that intoxicate 
the mind with an insatiable desire for sensuous gratification and 
exciting sport. Both the world and many in the nominal 
churches have been dragged into it. The Saviour has warned 
us against this scheme of the evil one, by which he seeks so 
completely to charm the world with illusory pleasures that they 
will not discern the portentous issues of our day and generation. 
And He has given us the promise: "When He putteth forth His 
own sheep, He goeth before them, and the sheep follow Him; 
for they know His voice. And a stranger will they not follow, 
but will flee from him ; for they know not the voice of strangers." 
John 10:4, 5. 







Hr^ja^ 




-^cX- 



CHAPTER 

SIXTEEN. 

REFERENCE has al- 
ready been made to 
the apostle Paul's 
statement that "in the last days perilous times shall come. For 
[or because] men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous," 
etc. 2 Tim. 3:1,2. " Men shall be lovers of their own selves, 
covetous;" and because of these, in connection with other sins, 
the last days are made "perilous." 

Individuals who are completely filled with self-love, caring 
nothing for others only as a means of gratifying and pleasing 
themselves, are a very dangerous class. If they fancy that their 
personal pleasure would be increased by the destruction or 
violent taking away of the property of others, they do not 
scruple to do it. If to accomplish their desires it seems advan- 
tageous to take the life of a fellow-creature, they wait only to 
assure themselves that they can accomplish the deed without 
being caught, and then proceed to the execution of the fearful 
crime. In short, it makes no difference to those who are wholly 
given to the worship and gratification of self, how much sorrow 
and pain they cause another. Neither hunger, cold, nor any or 
all of the worst forms of suffering, seem to touch them. They 
are living only for self, and the distress of others is of little 
moment to them. ( i 59 ) 



l6o HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

The reader is familiar with the Scripture statement, "As it 
was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the 
Son of man." Luke 17:26. He also knows that the Bible 
tells us, in describing the sins of Noah's time, that "God 
saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and 
that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only 
evil continually." "And the earth was filled with violence." 
Gen. 6:5, 11. 

Now, just as surely as these scriptures are true, just so 
surely may we know that in the last days, as in Noah's time, 
"violence" and great wickedness, — so great that "every imagi- 
nation" will be devoted to evil, — will be prevalent among 
mankind. And with the picture of this great wickedness of 
Noah's time before the mind, it must be very evident that the 
self-love, the covetousness, that makes the last days "perilous," 
is the very worst that Satan can produce. Is it any wonder 
that the apostle, in such emphatic language, tells us that "in 
the last days perilous times shall come " ? For the seeds of 
"self-love" and "covetousness," planted in a heart where "every 
imagination" is "only evil continually," must produce a fearful 
harvest. 

In the very nature of things, men who are thus "lovers of 
their own selves, covetous," will grasp for everything they 
can get hold of. And since "every imagination" is "only 
evil continually," they will not be at all particular about the 
honesty of their methods in securing the objects of their cov- 
etous hearts. The stronger ones, and those who by some 
chance are thrown into positions of advantage, will override the 
weak; and some will thus, through selfish greed and covetous- 
ness, amass colossal fortunes to be used in wanton pleasure, 
while others will be mercilessly ground down by abject poverty. 

The apostle James makes this matter clear beyond a single 
doubt. He says: "Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl 
for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are 



YE HAVE HEAPED TREASURE. l6l 

corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and 
silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness 
against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have 
heaped treasures together for the last days. Behold, the hire 
of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of 
you kept back by fraud, crieth ; and the cries of them which 
have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. 
Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton ; ye 
have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye have 
condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you. 
Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. 
Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the 
earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early 
and latter rain. Be ye also patient ; stablish your hearts ; for the 
coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Grudge not one against 
another, brethren, lest ye be condemned; behold, the Judge 
standeth before the door." James 5:1-9. 

Speaking to the rich men, this text declares, "Ye have 
heaped treasure together for the last days." This self-loving, 
" covetous" age is marked by the heaping together of treas- 
ure, and none should fail to note that it is "heaped" together 
"for the last days." 

The reader is well aware of the fact that there is no subject 
to-day more widely discussed than the "relation of capital to 
labor." And why all this discussion? — It is because colossal 
fortunes have been grasped, and are in the hands of a few, 
while a great multitude are suffering from pinching v/ant. 
Every one knows that this statement is a literal truth. 

Mankind, uninfluenced by the Spirit of the Nazarene, has 
ever been inclined to amass large fortunes and hoard them as 
misers, or spend them in selfish pleasure. From time to time 
in the history of the past, whole nations have become so cor- 
rupted through the wealth that a few could control, that they 
have gone down amid the strife of their internal revolutions. 



1 62 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

James Anthony Froude, A. M., says of Rome in the days of 
Caesar : — - 

"The intellect was trained to the highest point which it 
could reach; and on the great subjects of human interest, on 
morals and politics, on poetry and art, even on religion itself 
and the speculative problems of life, men thought as we think, 
doubted as we doubt, argued as we argue, aspired and struggled 
after the same objects. It was an age of material progress, 
material civilization, and intellectual culture; an age of pam- 
phlets and epigrams, of salons and dinner parties, of senatorial 
majorities and electoral corruption. The highest offices in the 
state were open, in theory, to the meanest citizen; they were 
confined, in fact, to those who had the longest purses or the 
most ready use of the tongue on popular platforms. Distinction 
of birth had been exchanged for distinction of wealth. The 
struggles between plebians and patricians for equality of privi- 
lege were over, and a new division had been formed between 
the party of property and the party who desired a change in the 
structure of society. The free cultivators were disappearing 
from the soil. Italy was being absorbed into vast estates, held 
by a few favored families, and cultivated by slaves, while the 
old agricultural population was driven off the land, and was 
crowded into towns. The rich were extravagant, for life had 
ceased to have practical interests, except for its material pleas- 
ures; the occupation of the high classes was to obtain money 
without labor, and to spend it in idle enjoyment" — Cczsar, p. 6. 

When Rome was in the condition described by Mr. Froude, 
there were numerous tribes to the north, who, while considered 
by the Romans to be more barbarous than they, were never- 
theless much more honorable and upright. The corruptions of 
Rome had not debased them ; and these northern tribes con- 
quered her, and, by breaking her territory up into what are 
practically the nations of Europe to-day, destroyed her large 
fortunes, and dissipated her corruptions. Thus a new civiliza- 



YE HAVE HEAPED TREASURE. 



163 



tion upon a new basis was begun. But the same spirit that 
was among- the Romans, which led certain men, more favored 
than their fellows, to control all the wealth, continued to work 
among the new nations founded on the ruins of the old empire. 
And, during the long course of the centuries, in all the nations 
of the Old World a few families have been seeking to hold the 
wealth and the consequent power that money gives. There 
have been revolts against the oppressions of this so-called nobil- 
ity, the most marked being the French Revolution. During the 
Middle Ages the great mass of the people were kept in such 
ignorance and superstition that their revolts lacked the intelli- 
gent leadership necessary to make them effective. 

But when we begin to approach the intelligence of the 
sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries, a 
new continent engages the attention of Europe, and so the 
revolutions that otherwise must have become general long 
before this time, were held in abeyance by the interest mani- 
fested in peopling and developing the New World. America 
has long been the asylum to which the oppressed and discon- 
tented have been welcomed, and the freedom and advancement 
in this country have been a constant object lesson to the nations 
of the eastern hemisphere; and who can tell the moulding influ- 
ence that our free institutions have had in bringing a greater 
degree of freedom to some of the nations of Europe during the 
last hundred years? But when America, "the land of the free 
and the home of the brave," the "asylum for the downtrodden 
and unfortunate," herself becomes as corrupt as the nations of 
the Old World, where on the face of all the earth is there a "city 
of refuge" ? In the history of all the past, God has borne with 
nations until they became wholly given over to evil, and then, 
as the most merciful, yes, in fact, the only thing He could do, 
has given them up to destruction. When in Noah's time the 
whole world became "only evil," He destroyed all the evil 
people by the flood. We have produced abundant testimony 



164 



HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 



to show that in the last 
days, the same as in the 
world before the flood, 
the "earth" will be "filled 
with violence;" hence the 
only remedy will be for 
Christ to come and take 
the upright to Himself, 
and consign the rest to 
the destruction they have 
chosen by clinging to their 
sins. 

The wealth of the no- 
bility in the Old World 
has long held the reins of 
power, and the reader of 
history must be impressed 
with the fact that it has 
not been without the pro- 
test of the anarchist, the 
communist, the socialist, 
etc. The sway of the 
money power in the past 
has been held in check to 
some extent by other in- 
fluences; but it will not 
continue to be so in these last days of "covetousness," when 
men are "lovers of their own selves," and "every imagination" 
is "only evil continually." Hence the grasping hand that would 
seek to acquire and hold everything for itself will be more and 
more manifest. 

How is it now in America, the great land of equality, where 
every man is supposed to be on the same footing with every 
other, and where there is in theory no cast or distinctions of 




An alley of poverty, Chicago 



YE HAVE HEAPED TREASURE. 



165 



wealth? " In 1833," says Robert N. Reeves, "when Tocque- 
ville visited America, he was struck by the equal distribution of 
wealth and the absence of capitalists. Half a century later, 
when James Bryce, author of 'The American Commonwealth,' 
visited our country, the trusts, monopolies, and concentrated 
wealth so amazed him that he exclaimed, 'I see the shadows 
of a new structure of society — an aristocracy of riches.'" 

In this country there were no great fortunes fifty or sixty 
years ago. The people were living contentedly, and the heated 
discussions of capital and labor that we hear now on every street 
corner, and read in our papers all over the land, were hardly 
dreamed of. But it is vastly different to-day. The same 
writer, in the Arena, August, 1897, says: — 

"Never in the history of our country were the people 
confronted with greater social problems than they are to-day. 
The strikes, boycotts, and general discontent of late years 
prove conclusively that 



there is yet much room 
for improvement in our 
social order. 
Every observant person 
must admit that the 
great concentration 
of wealth, whether 
it be in corpora- 
tions, trusts, or 
individuals, has 
reached a point 
dangerous to the 
future prosperity of 
the nation. . . . 
The Probate Court 
records of the various states disclose the fact that millionaires 
are becoming more numerous, while the smaller property-owners 




Lodging-house 
for the poor. 



1 66 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

are gradually sinking into the multitude of people possessing 
nothing. . . . 

"This power of wealth is the greatest danger that has 
threatened our country since the Civil War, and against it we 
must constantly be on our guard." 

Mr. Reeves is not quoted to use him as authority -in the 
matter, but simply to give a sample of the articles of which 
our papers and magazines are full all the time. It is not 
Mr. Reeves only, but thousands of men and women all over 
the country, who are speaking after the same order, only many 
of them express themselves much more strongly. And with 
the facts before them in regard to the vast fortunes on the 
one hand, and the great destitution and consequent growing 
indication of turbulence on the other, and without giving atten- 
tion to the guiding light of the prophecy that shows what all 
this means, is it any wonder that strong denunciations should be 
made against these men of vast wealth, and that by so many 
the future should be looked upon with forebodings of evil? 

In the Forum of November, 1889, is an article by Thomas 
G. Shearman, entitled "The Owners of the United States." In 
this article he mentions two estates valued at $150,000,000 each, 
five estates worth $100,000,000 each, and more than sixty-three 
other estates worth from $20,000,000 to $70,000,000 each. 
Concerning these estates he says: — 

" Making the largest allowance for exaggerated reports, there 
can be no doubt that these seventy names represent an aggregate 
wealth of $2,700,000,000, or an average of over $37,500,000 
each. The writer has not specially sought for information 
concerning any one worth less than $20,000,000, but has inci- 
dentally learned of fifty other persons worth over $1 0,000,000, of 
whom thirty are valued in all at $450,000,000, making together 
one hundred persons worth over $3,000,000,000. Yet this list 
includes very few names from New England, and none from 
the south. Evidently it would be easy for any specially well- 



YE HAVE HEAPED TREASURE. 1 67 

informed person to make up a list of one hundred names of 
persons averaging $25,000,000 each, in addition to ten averag- 
ing $100,000,000 each. The average annual income of the 
richest hundred Americans can not be less than $1,200,000, 
and probably exceeds $1,500,000." 

Mr. Shearman also made the estimate that twenty-five thou- 
sand persons own one-half of all the wealth of the United States. 

On June 9, 1897, the Hon. Roger Q. Mills, of Texas, made 
a speech in the United States Senate in which he said, "Mr. 
Shearman is one of the ablest lawyers in the country ; " and 
concerning his article in the Forum he stated that "it was 
published and republished again in the magazines. It was 
published in 1889. It has never been questioned. It has 
been sent broadcast; it has been commented on everywhere; 
and never have I heard one breath of contradiction or criticism 
of the article." 

Thus it would appear that there has been abundant oppor- 
tunity as well as provocation to contradict the startling figures 
given by Mr. Shearman; but they remain uncontradicted. The 
facts are so patent no one would think of contradicting them. 

Think for a moment what some of the foregoing figures 
mean. The man with an estate of $150,000,000, if he had to 
count it one dollar at a time, would need to do quite rapid work 
if he counted $60,000 in a day of ten hours, and at this rate it 
would take him seven long years to accomplish his task; if his 
fortune was in one-dollar bills, and placed end to end, it would 
reach about two-thirds the way around the earth. 

Speaking of the enormous wealth represented by these fig- 
ures, Mr. Mills, in his speech in the Senate, said: "We have 
been told that concentrated money is equally as powerful for 
evii as concentrated swords and bayonets, and that liberty must 
leave the land where either tyrant rules. We are trampling 
to-day all these admonitions under our feet. . . . Our ship 
is driving upon the rocks; and unless we seize the helm, and 
11 



1 68 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

change its course, the historian will emerge from the darkness 
to write the melancholy pages of the decline and fall of the 
great American Republic." 

The somber view that Mr. Mills takes of the situation is, as 
every one knows, shared by thousands of our best and most 
intelligent men. 

The New York Thrice-a-week World of June 21, 1897, 
contained the report of an interview with Mr. Shearman in 
regard to his figures published in 1889 concerning concentrated 
wealth. In this interview Mr. Shearman says: "The principles 
upon which these calculations were made have never been 
impeached, even by those who object most strongly to the 
inferences drawn. . . . Taken as a whole, my original 
figures were much too low." 

Among his "original figures" may be classed his article 
in the Forum of January, 189 1, under the heading of "The 
Coming Billionaire." In this article he concludes that if 
calculation is made on the very lowest basis, some of these 
vast estates must reach a billion dollars inside of the next forty 
years. More than eight of the forty years since January, 1891, 
are in the past, and still this great accumulating of wealth is 
going on. And while it is sincerely hoped that this struggle 
may not be prolonged for thirty years more, yet is it not truly 
a startling thought that we are living in a time when money 
is heaped together so rapidly that the simple millionaire is no 
longer a marvel, and the billionaire is in sight? And this 
"coming billionaire" does not receive his prodigious fortune 
as an inheritance, representing the accumulations of many gen- 
erations of ancestors that have lived before him, but he steps 
upon the stage of action and finds things so favorable to his 
covetous designs that in his own brief lifetime he "heaps" up 
this unprecedented fortune. Who can fail to be impressed by 
these astounding facts? 

In the amassing of wealth there is a combination among 



YE HAVE HEAPED TREASURE. 1 69 

the capitalists, so that they can control the sale of the staple 
commodities of daily life, and by the various means at their 
command lay the whole country under tribute to them. 

In the New York Thrice-a-week World of February 10, 
1897, was an article with the following head-lines:— 



The Profits of the Sugar Trust on Its Refining 
Business Alone Have Amounted to 

$236,240,000 IN TEN YEARS. 

This Calculation Is Based on the Sworn Testimony Given 
by Its President, and — — 
Secretary and Treasurer, Be- 
fore the Legislative Committee That Is 
Now Investigating Trusts 



This vast sum is made by the trust on just one of the 
commodities of daily life. 

Speaking of a trust controlling another staple commodity, 
Mr. Henry D. Lloyd says: "A friendly journal, the New York 
Sun, of April 25, 1889, in an editorial paragraph concerning 
the wealth of one of the trustees, said, 'His regular income is 
$20,000,000 a year.' Another entirely friendly paper, with 
sources of information of the very best, put his income two 
years later at $30,000,000 a year. No denial of the Suns 
statement was attempted, and the Sun never withdrew or 
modified its figures." — Wealth against Commonwealth, p. 45 g. 

A man with a yearly income of twenty or thirty millions of 
dollars is certainly "heaping together treasures." 

But the individual is not satisfied with what he can heap 
together alone, neither are the powers of the ordinary corpora- 
tion adequate to his selfish greed. Hence "trusts" have been 
invented, by means of which the whole business of the entire 
nation can be monopolized, and compelled to pay a revenue to 



I70 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

the covetous worshiper at the shrine of mammon. Among the 
trusts reported to have been formed in the earlier months of 
1898 was the tobacco trust, with a capital of $100,000,000; the 
electric trust, with a capital of $25,000,000; the silverware trust, 
with a capital of $30,000,000; the iron trust, with a capital of 
$200,000,000; the cutlery trust, with a capital of $2,000,000; 
and so on. The total amount of wealth grasped by the trusts 
in this country alone for the year 1898 is placed by good 
authorities at $1,000,000,000. All are familiar with the fact that 
these large aggregations of capital crush out the small inde- 
pendent dealers, and hold the prices of commodities, and the 
general interests of business, within their iron grasp. 

It would be a wearisome as well as a useless task to try to 
present anything like a tithe of the great mass of evidence that 
might be given in regard to the " heaping" together of treasure. 
Every one knows that the combines of wealth meet us at the 
very threshold of life, and, following us all the journey through, 
ask a tribute at every step on the various necessary things of 
daily use, until finally the portals of the tomb are reached, 
and even there are we met by the agent of the undertakers' 
association, who collects his fee before our mortal remains are 
allowed to be laid to rest. 

Meet men anywhere, and their theme is "making money." 
Money must be had at all hazards. If it can not be obtained 
honestly, it must be gained in some other way. A. R. Barrett, 
formerly a government examiner of failed banks, in the Arena 
of October, 1895, sa ys: — 

" Statistics show that during the past ten years, bank 
wreckers, embezzlers, and defaulters have robbed the people 
of this country of over one hundred million dollars, an average 
of over ten millions of dollars per annum ; and this state of 
things has been growing worse the past two years. . . . The 
cause may be attributed to that desire which seems to pervade all 
classes to "get rich quickly' and to live extravagantly. The 



VE HAVE HEAPED TREASURE. I 7 I 

means by which the riches are obtained are too little considered. 
It is unfortunate that political and social power are too often 
measured by riches, and the temptation to obtain such power is 
greater than many men can withstand." 

According to the statement made by the lord chief justice 
of England on Lord Mayor's day, Nov. 9, 1898, there has 
been an average of about $20,000,000 per annum for the last 
seven years embezzled in the British Empire. Thus is the Old 
World outstripping the New in this infamous business. 

Such statements of fraud and embezzlement are simply 
appalling. But when we remember that we are in the time 
when men full of "self-love and covetousness " are to "heap 
treasure together," the reverent student of the Word of God 
will recognize in it the clear fulfilment of prophecy. 

Some of these great capitalists invest much of their money 
in land; and it may be interesting as well as impressive to 
note the vast estates some of them own. There is one person 
in the United States who owns four million sixty-eight thousand 
acres — this is equal to a little more than a ninth of the whole 
state of Illinois. A syndicate of four men owns an estate of 
three million acres, or what is equal to more than a twelfth 
of the state of Illinois. There is another estate of nearly two 
million acres, and still another of one million acres. There are, 
besides, several syndicates, each of which owns from five hundred 
thousand to four million five hundred thousand acres, as well as 
a long list of individuals, each one of whom owns from fifty 
thousand to seven hundred thousand acres of land. 

Just what use men could ever think of making of such vast 
amounts of land, it is impossible for any one to suggest. But 
we are in the "time of the end," and men are engaged in 
"heaping treasures together for the last days." 

We might naturally expect that when there is such an 
amassing of wealth on the one hand, there would be a corre- 
sponding amount of destitution on the other. And the Scrip- 



172 



HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 



ture affirms this fact as follows: " Behold, the hire of the laborers 
who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back 
by fraud, crieth ; and the cries of them which have reaped are 
entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth." James 5:4. 
Then capital, in these ''last days," when men are so "covetous," 
and such "lovers of their own selves," will oppress the laborer 
so that he "crieth" out against it, and it is said that the "cries" 
are heard by the Lord. How strikingly is the "cry" of labor 
against capital fulfilling this scripture to-day, and the growing 
destitution is making the cry louder all the time! It is not 
uncommon to read in the morning papers, particularly in the 
winter-time, such head-lines as appear on this page. 

The suffering of these seventy-five thousand can hardly be 
estimated, and were it not a fact that we are in an age when 

"every imagination" of the 
great majority is " only evil 
continually," it would not be 
possible for hearts to be so 
stony cold, and so absolutely 
unimpressed by the suffering 
of our fellows, as to allow them 
to be under such pinching 
want in such a time of plenty. 
And be it remembered that 
the suffering from want is felt 
equally as much in all our 
large cities as in Chicago. 
Disguise this fact as we may, 
it is nevertheless a positive 
truth. But how cheering is 
the thought that in spite of this wicked and covetous age, in 
which Satan is trying to turn every one to evil, there are 
thousands of kind and sympathizing hearts and hands that 
are throbbing and working for these unfortunates! These 




75,000 People in Chicago Suf- 
fering for Necessaries 
of Life, 

45,090 MEN OUT OF EMPLOYMENT. 

Their Pitiful Plight Aggravates by a 

Temperature of 20 Degrees 

Below Zero. 



YE HAVE HEAPED TREASURE. 



173 



workers in our city missions are constantly finding, amid the 
destitution there, children six or seven years of age with not a 
single article of clothing upon them. Families of four or five 
persons of both sexes are crowded together in one room* some- 
times below ground, and 

this room is used for ~— ^ y- 

every purpose. There 
are tenements in which 
from one hundred and 
fifty to two hundred 
persons, men, women, 
and children, are herded 
together like cattle — 
perhaps it would be 
more truthful to say 
hogs — and sleep in 
heaps upon the land- 
ings of the stairs and 
every other available 
place. These houses 
are owned by respect- 
able (?) citizens, who are 
not satisfied with less 
than twenty or thirty per cent profit upon their investment. 
Within these filthy premises are the "sweat shops" of our 
cities, where individuals are paid for their work at such star- 
vation rates as forty-five cents a dozen for making "knee-pants." 
The merchant, of course, since he gets his work done so 
cheaply, and sells his goods at a high price, and perhaps owns 
the miserable quarters where these "sweated" workers dwell, 
and gets a good rent from them, has a very handsome profit. 
The untold misery that exists in these "sweat shops" the day 
of judgment alone can reveal. Being able only to make a bare 
existence, these unfortunate creatures are compelled to work 




Misery . . . 
exists in these 
sweat-shops.' 1 '' 



174 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

every moment of their time from early morn till late at night; 
they can not stop for sickness or pain so long as they can 
compel their physical machinery to act; and the quarters they 
occupy any one would recognize as not conducive to health. 
One man was asked to repair the roof over his workmen. It 
was giving them rheumatism, asthma, and consumption. He 
said, "Men are cheaper than shingles; no sooner does one drop 
out than a dozen are ready to take his place." 

Through the Boston Herald Rev. Everett D. Burr gives 
the result of some of his experiences, as follows : — 

"A short time ago I heard of a family in very destitute 
circumstances. I was told that the father, a steady, hard- 
working man, had been one of the last discharged from the 
cordage factory. I went to the house, and found there a 
family of seven, who hadn't had anything to eat for eight days 
except beans, and didn't have money to even buy salt. 

"The other day when I went to visit a house, a little bit of 
a girl met me outside the door, and, seeing the basket on my 
arm, asked me if I had anything to eat in it; 'for, do you know,' 
she said pathetically, as she laid her hand on a worn little apron, 
' I feel awful queer there, kind of sore, you know.' 

" And it is the knowledge fathers have of the suffering of 
the children at home that makes it harder for them to bear the 
present state of affairs. Why, men come to us after walking 
the streets all day, sink into a chair, and almost cry, telling us 
they can not go home to the children empty-handed." 

Childhood, of all times of life, should be relieved from every 
distressing care and filled up with sunshine and joy. But there 
is no sunshine in the little hearts in the "sweat shops." Some- 
times the father makes the situation worse by giving up to 
strong drink; but where this is not the case, in these miserable 
burrowing places (they can not be called by that dearest name, 
home), not only father and mother have to work all day and 
until late at night, but little children four and five years of age, in 



YE HAVE HEAPED TREASURE. 



*75 



order to assist in supporting the family, are required to work all 
the weary hours of a long day and evening too. And is it any 
wonder, under these circumstances, that a gentleman who inci- 
dentally remarked in one of these "sweat shops" that he was 
forty-five years old, was met with the serious and deeply pathetic 
comment of a little girl, "I should think any one would get so 
tired of living so long." How distressing it seems that even in 
childhood, which is usually buoyant and happy, every spark of 
joy that makes life worth living is thus snuffed out, and com- 
ing years, instead of being filled with bright anticipations, are 
looked upon with "tired" and gloomy forebodings that are 
more dismal than the tomb ! And how much more distressing 
is the thought that in this age of self-love and covetousness, 
hearts are so icy cold 
that they can press down 
these poor unfortunates, 
and make their sad lot 
harder and harder, in- 
stead of trying to send 
one ray of sunshine 
across their dreary path- 
way! 

While this distress- 
ing poverty is exhibiting 
itself in all our great 
cities, we may be met 
with such head-lines in 
the papers as those ap- 
pearing on this page. 

What a striking ful- 
filment is such an occur- 
rence as this of that 
verse already quoted 
from James' prophecy, 



LUXURIOUS FEASTS OF 
ANCIENTS OUTDONE 

— — .»-- — 

800 Persons in Attire of Surpassing Magnificence 

Participate in New York's Greatest 

Social Function. 



HOSTESS DECKED IN PRICELESS JEWELS; 



Mrs, 



— — Led the Quadrille i Wearing 

Gems Valued at a Quarter of a 
Million Dollars. 



GREAT CROWDS SURROUND THE WALDORF. 



The most sumptuous, brilliant and costly social function that New York 
has ever known was the fancy-dress ball given by Mrs. " at 

the Waldorf last night. 

Abo-ut eight hundred people were there, of whom more than four hun- 
dred and fifty were women. The ball placed about JLO0.C0O in circulation. 

The ball began at midnight and ended at 5 o'clock this morning. There- 
fore Its pleasures cost at the rate of $100,000 an hour. The ccst to the host- 
ess was about $125,000. 

It was a superb spectacle. People came thousands of mile9 to attend rt 



I76 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

"Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye 
have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter" (James 5:5)! 

Truly as we read this prophecy of the apostle James, we 
must acknowledge that in prophetic vision he had presented to 
his mind a vivid portrayal of these "last-day" scenes; for while 
the distressing "cries" of the oppressed laborer are still upon 
the prophet's ears, his attention is suddenly directed to the 
"wanton" "pleasure" of those who are "nourishing their hearts 
as in a day of slaughter." 

Please read again carefully the first verses of the fifth chapter 
of James and see how literally they are meeting their fulfilment 
to-day. Men are most truly and marvelously "heaping together 
treasure for the last days;" the "cry of the laborer" is waxing 
louder and louder because of his great destitution, and amid it 
all is the "wanton" "pleasure" of the rich, individuals among 
whom, decked in jewels worth a quarter of a million, are dancing 
at balls which cost a hundred thousand dollars an hour. Truly 
the "time of the end" is here. The "last days," in which 
"perilous times have come," are now swiftly gliding by. 

Says Bishop Potter: "The growth of wealth and of luxury, 
wicked, wasteful, and wanton, as before God I declare that 
luxury to be, has been matched step by step by a deepening 
and deadening poverty which has left whole neighborhoods of 
people practically without hope and without aspiration. At such 
a time, for the church of God to sit still and be content with 
theories of its duty outlawed by time, and long ago demon- 
strated to be grotesquely inadequate to the demands of a 
living situation, this is to deserve the scorn of men and the 
curse of God. Take my word for it, men and brethren, unless 
you and I, and all those who have any gift or stewardship of 
talents or means, of whatever sort, are willing to get up out of 
our sloth and ease and selfish dilettanteism of service, and get 
down among the people who are battling amid their poverty and 
ignorance — young girls for their chastity, young men for their 



YE HAVE HEAPED TREASURE. 1 77 

better ideal of righteousness, old and young alike for one clear 
ray of the immortal courage and the immortal hope — then verily 
the church, in its stately splendor, its apostolic orders, its vener- 
able ritual, its decorous and dignified conventions, is revealed 
as simply a monstrous and insolent impertinence." — Pulpit 
Herald and Altruistic Review, June, 1896, p. 257. 

The professed churches of Christ certainly have a grave 
responsibility in this matter; for many of those who hold such 
great wealth make a profession of Christianity. And when we 
consider Him whose whole life was spent going about doing 
good for others; and of whom it is said He "hath not where to 
lay His head;" and of whom it is written, "Though He was 
rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His 
poverty might be rich" — how can we truly be His followers if 
we are found acting in the contrary manner? 

The Word says: "How hardly shall they that have riches 
enter into the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to 
go through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter into the 
kingdom of God." Luke 18:24, 25. The Lord says further: 
'' Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not 
high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living 
God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; that they do 
good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, 
willing to communicate; laying up in store for themselves a 
good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay 
hold on eternal life." 1 Tim. 6:17-19. 

Comment on the foregoing scripture is unnecessary. Let 
each one receive it as the direct voice of God, and prepare 
to make answer to Him in person. And the church or the 
pastor that will bear a carnally-soothing testimony now, seeking 
to take away the keen edge of God's warning, becomes equally 
responsible with the man of wealth. The question is that of 
eternal destiny. And the man who is groping in the dark 
should not be told that he is all right. He should have his 



178 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

darkness and deception driven away by receiving the clear 
light of the infallible Word. 

And the warning given by James should not be overlooked : 
"Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that 
shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and "your 
garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered, 
and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall 
eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together 
for the last days." Chapter 5:1-3. Thus does this scripture 
not only call attention to the " treasure" that shall be "heaped 
together for the last days," but it also tells of the "miseries" 
^hat shall cause these "rich men" to "weep and howl," and of 
their unused wealth that "shall eat their flesh as it were fire." 

The present seizing of the wealth of the world, and its 
wanton display, by a comparatively few men, form a large part 
of the seed-sowing for that world-wide reign of terror that is 
being hastened on. At different times small portions of the 
world have had to pass through the revolutionary horrors that 
congested and grinding wealth has produced. But that which 
confronts us to-day is not local, but universal. And the most 
distressing poverty that can be found is not more to be pitied 
than the men of colossal wealth; for smouldering beneath the 
banquet hall and all the other luxuriantly-extravagant dissipations 
and displays of the rich, may be clearly seen and heard the 
threatening tokens of the social volcano. The position of the 
rich is not an enviable one unless viewed in a superficial manner. 
The Word of God places the matter in its true light, and rich 
and poor alike should give heed to the faithful warnings. 

The truly enlightened Christian will not be found now quar- 
reling with the rich over their possessions; for he knows that 
the time can not be far off when "they shall go into the holes 
of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the 
Lord, and for the glory of His majesty, when He ariseth to 
shake terribly the earth. In that day a man shall cast his idols 



YE HAVE HEAPED TREASURE. 179 

of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for 
himself [lovers of their own selves, covetous] to worship, to the 
moles and to the bats; to go into the clefts of the rocks, and 
into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the Lord, and for 
the glory of His majesty, when He ariseth to shake terribly the 
earth." Isa. 2 : 19-21. 

So, then, He of whom it is said, "Justice and judgment are 
the habitation of Thy throne; mercy and truth shall go before 
Thy face," will deal in righteousness with all classes, — with 
those who cling to their riches and wanton pleasure, instead of 
accepting the "true riches" and the "joys that are forevermore,'* 
as well as with the most lowly and poor. 

Riches were intended by the Creator to be a blessing to all 
mankind. What an opportunity the man of wealth has in 
these times; but soon he will be called to give an account of 
his stewardship; and if still found at that time to be untrue to 
his trust, how great will be the confusion and bitter remorse 
into which he will be thrown ! The money now found in the 
hands of many wealthy men has been gathered by extortion, 
and the commonest kind of honesty would suggest that it be 
returned to its rightful owners. But the poor should not take 
this work of judgment into their own hands by any means; for 
"behold the Judge standeth before the door," and before that 
tribunal only righteousness and truth will prevail. 

While mercy's door is still held open, let every nerve be 
thrilled with the one work of pointing all to Him who is the 
friend of sinners, and whose coming is only mercifully deferred 
that all who can possibly be touched by His love may be led to 
get ready to meet Him, and, amid the unsullied joys of the 
redeemed, live in His presence forevermore. Reader, will you 
assist in passing the good news along that Jesus is coming 
again, and that His coming is near, even at the doors? 



■.«>■'■'■ " 




CHAPTER 

SEVENTEEN. 



AND the nations were angry, and Thy wrath is come, and 
the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and 
that Thou shouldest give reward unto Thy servants the 
prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear Thy name, small 
and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth. 
And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was 
seen in His temple the ark of His testament; and there were 
lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and 
great hail." Rev. 11:18, 19. 

This scripture brings us face to face with the "time of the 
dead, that they should be judged." Observe that the text also 
says that the "nations were angry." So, then, when the great 
judgment day is at hand, the nations will not.be found at peace; 
for the sure Word says they will be "angry." 

Another scripture bears the same direct testimony: "And I 
saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth 
of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of 
(180) 




were mom 




the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of 
devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the 
earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of 
that great day of God almighty." Rev. 16:13, 14. 

How extensive is the application of this scripture! "The 
kings of the earth and of the whole world," through the agency 
of evil spirits, are to be gathered "to the battle of that great 
day of God Almighty." The Lord has said, "Wo to the 
inhabiters of the earth and of the sea ! for the devil is come 
down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he 
hath but a short time." Rev. 12:12. It is this evil one who 
goes to "the kings of the earth" to make them "angry" when 
he "knoweth" that time is short and the "great day of God 
Almighty" is almost here. The same evil spirit has sought 
to keep the people in ignorance of his workings by filling 
them with the idea that we are approaching a time of universal 
peace instead of the most awful war that the world has ever 
dreamed of. 

Through the prophet Joel we also have a vivid description 
of the great war preparations near the close of time. He says; 

(181) 



l82 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

" Proclaim ye this among the nations: Prepare war; stir up the 
mighty men ; let all the men of war draw near, let them come 
up. Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning-hooks 
into spears; let the weak say, I am strong. Assemble your- 
selves [margin], and come, all ye nations round about, and gather 
yourselves together; thither cause thy mighty ones to come 
down, O Lord. Let the nations bestir themselves, and come 
up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there will I sit to judge all 
the nations round about. Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest 
is ripe; come, get you down [margin]; for the winepress is full, 
the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, 
multitudes in the valley of decision [margin, Authorized Ver- 
sion, "concision, or threshing"]; for the day of the Lord is 
near in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon are 
darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. And the Lord 
shall roar from Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem; and 
the heavens and the earth shall shake; but the Lord will be 
a refuge unto His people, and a stronghold to the children of 
Israel." Chapter 3 19-16, R. V. 

This scripture also presents the judgment scenes. "For 
there will I sit to judge all the nations round about." And 
again: "Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! for 
the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision." Now 
observe that just as clearly as this scripture brings to view the 
sitting of the Lord "to judge all the nations," and the time 
when the "day of the Lord is near," just so clearly does it 
say, "Proclaim ye this among the nations: Prepare war; stir 
up the mighty men; let all the men of war draw near, let 
them come up. Beat your plowshares into swords, and your 
pruning-hooks into spears; let the weak say, I am strong." 

Thus we find that the Scripture teaching makes it clear 
that the "last days" will be characterized by the intensity of the 
war spirit as well as by the intensity of wickedness in general, 
the marvelous increase of knowledge, the heaping together of 



"--J^i/-- :•. .-. 



treasure, and the great combining of every 
masterly deception that the enemy can 
invent. 

The Lord, through His prophets, speaks 
the truth concerning the nations. There 
will be a preparation for war; and instead 
of beating their swords into plowshares, 
and their spears into pruning-hooks, they 
will beat their " plowshares into swords, 
and their pruning-hooks into spears." 
Observe how different is the language of 
the Lord from that which "many people" 
will be saying in the last days, as has al- 
ready been shown in chapter 9. 

The prophetic declaration is that the 
war spirit will prevail over the whole 
world ; and what may be seen among the 
nations to-day ? Does the outlook indicate 
a universal peace ? Are not the greatest 
armies being hastily gathered, and the 
most marvelous implements of war being 



1. Viking, 700 a. d. 

2. Roman or Greek 

Galley, 300 b. c. 

3. Armades, 1098. 

4. Venetian, 1300. 



5. Spanish, 1492. 

6. French, 1600. 

7. English, 1700. 

8. American, 18 14 



9. American, 1835. -%^= 

Monitor, 1862. 

Merrimac, 1862. 
[2. First-class battleship, 1898 





_ ~~~ 10 
Evolution of the battleship 



12 



(183) 



184 



fTERALDS OF THE MORNING. 



forged, that could ever have been conceived in the wildest 
realm of imaginative fancy? 

The following table gives, as nearly as the facts can be 
obtained from the best statistical authorities, the comparative 
strength of the principal armies of the world for the years 1869, 
1892, and 1898: — 



Countries. 



Germany 

France 

Italy 

Austria 

Russia 

Great Britain 

Turkey 

Spain 

Denmark 

Greece 

Switzerland 

Sweden and Norway 

Bulgaria 

Servia 

Roumania 

Japan 

China 

Mexico 

Brazil 

Chile 

Argentine Republic. 
Venezuela 

Totals 



1869. 



977,262 

825,696 

464,321 

822,472 

1,199,996 

251,722 

499,360 

173,785 

50,371 

14,716 

350,020 

183,561 

25,000 
38,000 



5,876,282 



1892. 



4,500,000 

4,350,000 

1,636,000 

2,500,000 

4,000,000 

602,000 

1,150,000 

800,000 

91,000 

180,000 

338,000 

338,000 

180,000 
280,000 



20,945,000 



Beginning 
of 1898. 



5,225,105 

5,014,842 

2,223,114 

1,782,400 

5,093,816 

800,800 

1,120,138 

1,561,826 

222,695 

297,964 

493,175 
276,219 
226,342 
271,170 
250,537 
349>94i 
631,400 

165,427 
98,142 

95,714 
66,237 

257,764 



26,524,768 



Increase between 1869 and 1892, 15,068,718; increase between 1892 and 1898, 
5,579,768; increase for the whole 29 years, between 1869 and 1898, 20,648,486. 

The great Napoleon introduced the idea of putting the 
whole male population under military conscription. The plan 
was at first treated as an innovation that should not be carried 
into practical effect. But, notwithstanding the military genius 
of Napoleon, and his great ability in gathering and organizing 
armies, he had only about four hundred seventy-five thousand 
men ready for the field when, in 18 12, he began his famous and 
disastrous march to Moscow; and upon this occasion he wrote 



AND THE NATIONS WERE ANGRY. 



185 




to Davout, " I have 
never made greater 
preparations." This 
French army of less 
than half a million 
men had been the 
terror of all Europe; 
but how small indeed 
does it seem when 
compared with her 
present army of more 
than five millions ! 

From the 
foregoing 
table it will 




be seen that as re- 
cently as 1869, 
Europe had less than six mil- 
lion men under arms; but a 
military epidemic has spread 
over the world ; and the armies 
of about six millions in 1869, 
increased in the next twenty- 
three years to almost twenty- 
one millions. And in. the six 
years between 1892 and 1898, 
another addition of 
five and a half mil- 
lions was made to 
these unprecedented 
armies, composed of 
men who are trained 
to the highest de- 
gree Of perfection British navy, jo miles 



long. "Revenge" in the foreground. 



i86 



HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 



in the military art. It is a further significant fact that two 
million four hundred thirty-four thousand ninety-four of the 
number were added to these expanding armies during the one 
year of 1897. And still more significant than all these other 
facts is the military fever that broke out so suddenly and so 
extensively in the United States in the early part of 1 




The war ships of the world, 
one to a mile, would cover a line 
from New York almost to Liver* 
pool. 



This country had held herself aloof from the entanglements 
of Old World politics, and in her majestic isolation felt no 
need of a great army; but trouble with Spain arises, and with 
one dashing bound she springs into the very center of the 
broils of the "angry" nations, and from every human indication 
she will remain in the turbulent stream of international politics 
until the final battle of that "great day." 

But this marvelous increase in the number of men composing 
the armies of the world is by no means a full presentation of 
their vastly increased power. For the weapons with which 



AND THE NATIONS WERE ANGRY. 1 87 

i 

Napoleon and the great generals of all former times fought, 
were mere toys when compared with the weapons that are 
now being prepared. 

Previous to the Rebellion in this country, 1 861-1864, breech- 
loading guns were not in use to any extent. Their introduction 
placed a weapon in the hands of the infantry that could be fired 
much more rapidly than the guns they replaced; and immediately 
other improvements in ammunition, etc., followed, making these 
breech-loading guns far more effective in range and accuracy. 
In 1 86 1 Dr. R. J. Gatling invented the gun that bears his 
name, and the ingenious mechanism of this w r eapon enables «it 
to fire from six hundred to twelve hundred shots per minute. 
The "Maxim automatic machine gun" is perhaps one of the 
best known of these modern "lead squirts," as they are popu- 
larly called. This gun is fully automatic ; that is, when its 
ammunition is placed in position, the gunner simply keeps his 
finger pressed on the trigger and directs the aim, and the recoil 
from each bullet as it is fired ejects the shell, and throws in 
place and discharges the next bullet, and so on. The operator 
simply swings the gun to and fro very much as a fireman or a 
gardener would use his hose, and he pours upon the enemy 
a literal stream of leaden death. No advancing column can 
meet such a fire without well-nigh, if not complete, destruction. 

The awfully destructive work of these machine guns was dem- 
onstrated in September of 1898 in the fight on the Nile between 
the British and the Dervishes. The Dervishes had none of 
the modern weapons, but showed all the valor of the most 
warlike armies of former times. They charged upon the Brit- 
ish in great numbers, but it was only to be mowed down by 
thousands beneath the withering fire of the machine guns of 
the English. The reports stated that less than a hundred of 
the British were killed and not three hundred were wounded, 
while the lowest estimates of the Dervishes killed and wounded 
were fifteen thousand, and some reports said twenty-two thou- 



i88 



HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 



sand. This is but a mere tri 
what will take place when the 
the vast armies of the 
all are fully armed and 
latest improved and 
But it is not alone 
for the infantry that the 
have been made. The 
to forty years ago were 
muzz le-loading, cast- 
the most of them 



fie, however, when compared with 
great conflict shall come between 
civilized world, when 
equipped with the 
deadliest weapons, 
in these smaller arms 
great improvements 
wars of thirty 
fought with old 
iron cannon, 
were smooth- 




Sea-going battle-ship "IOWA." She is armored with 14 inches of steel plate, and armed with four 
12-inch, eight 8-inch, six 4-inch rapid firers, twenty 6-pounders , four i-pounders , four Colt guns, two field 
pieces and four torpedo tubes. Her speed is ij.i knots; displacement, 11,340 tons. 

bore. While some of these guns had about as large a bore as 
the guns of to-day, no comparison could be made as to their 
effectiveness. 

All are familiar with the famous battle between the Merrimac 
and Monitor in the Civil War of the United States. Mr. John 
R. Spears thus describes the armament of the Merrimac : "The 
battery of the Merrimac contains six of the nine-inch Dahl- 
grens found in the Norfolk navy -yard, and four rifles designed 
by Brooke. Two of these rifles were mounted as pivots at bow 
and stern, and two smaller ones were in the broadside. The 



AND THE NATIONS WERE ANGRY. 



189 



pivots were cast-iron muzzle-loading rifles of seven-inch caliber, 
and they weighed fourteen thousand five hundred pounds each. 
The reader will appreciate the weight of the gun when it is told 
that the best gun in the British navy at that time was the sixty- 
eight-pounder, having a caliber of eight inches and weighing 
nine thousand five hundred pounds. Moreover, Brooke's heavy 
casting was reinforced by wrought-iron bands shrunk on. The 
broadside guns were of the same construction, but weighed nine 
thousand pounds, and were of four-inch caliber. Brooke s guns 
were far and away the best then afloat." — History of Our Navy, 
vol. 4, p. 188. 

John M. Brooke took the lead in the designing and building 
of the Merrimac; hence the several references to him in the 
foregoing quotation. It should also be stated that the Merri- 
mac was covered with four inches of iron, laid on a backing of 
oak timbers. 




Cross-section of revolving turret, showing the men on the inside zuorkmg the big guns of a battleship. 



The Monitor had a covering of five one-inch iron plates 
bolted on, and also backed by heavy oak timbers. Her flat 
deck was protected by two layers of half-inch iron plates. Her 



190 



HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 



revolving turret was built up of eight thicknesses of one-inch 
iron plates. She carried in this turret two eleven-inch smooth- 
bore guns, firing solid shot weighing from one hundred seventy 
to one hundred eighty pounds. Her speed was between four 
and five knots. 

Both of these vessels were built at the same time, the 
Merrimac by the Confederates, and the Monitor by the Union 
forces in the North. The Merrimac was completed in time to 
get in one day's fighting before the Monitor could reach the scene 




Washington Gun Factory. Boring and turning heavy guns. 



of action. There had been much gossip about the building of 
these two iron-clads, and the rumors descriptive of the Merrimac 
had inspired a good deal of dread among many of the Northern 



AND THE NATIONS WERE ANGRY. 



I 9 1 




Interior of gun shop, Washington, D. C. Show- 
r mammoth traveling crane. 



men. But the officers of the Union navy were fully convinced 
that Lord Howard Douglas "had conclusively demonstrated 
that an iron-clad would prove more dangerous to her own crew 
than to the enemy;" so they were full of confidence when they 
entered the fight against this 
new engine of war. The Mer- 
rimac rammed the Cumberland, 
and soon sunk her. She then 
turned to the Congress, and 
after a little while destroyed 
this vessel also. She then re- 
tired to the Confederate side 
for the night, thinking to return 
in the morning and destroy 
the rest of the Union fleet and the shore batteries as well. 

The Monitor steamed into Hampton Roads that night; and 
when the Merrimac came back to resume the fight in the 
morning, the two vessels engaged in the first battle between 
iron-clads. They fought each other for six hours. Each vessel 
tried to ram the other. Shot after shot was fired with the ships 
almost touching each other. Each side had a new kind of naval 
equipment, and each fought with the desperate and valorous 
determination that the novel condition inspired. 

The Merrimac came into this engagement with a good deal 
of confidence; for she had been the target the day before for 
one hundred heavy guns at one time. Some of her parts had 
been shot away, it is true; but her iron armor was still uninjured; 
and even after her six hours' fight with the Monitor, her armor 
was nowhere pierced. It is also true that she served her ten 
guns on the Monitor at short range for all of that six-hours 
contest, and to the best of her ability; still the Monitors armor 
was also uninjured. 

The Monitor fired one of her two guns about every seven 
or eight minutes, thus showing that it took nearly a quarter of 



I92 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

an hour to load each gun and get it in position to shoot. The 
Merrimac, having five guns on each broadside, was able to fire 
one of them on an average about every three minutes while she 
was doing her best work. One gun crew on the Merrimac 
became so disheartened with their inability to break through the 
armor of the Monitor, that they ceased firing, saying as they 
did so, "We can do her about as much damage by snapping our 
fingers at her every two or three minutes." 

This battle between these two iron-clads brought out the very 
best there was in all the world up to that time in the way of 
cannon as well as naval vessels. This matter has been pre- 
sented somewhat in detail, in order to show the contrast between 



One of the big cannon being transported on a specially-constructed car, made of the best boiler steel, 
and requiring 32 wheels to support it. 

naval warfare then and now. The first battle between iron-clads 
was fought less than forty years ago; but both the ships and 
cannon of that time are very primitive when placed beside those 
in use to-day. 

For instance, if it had been the battle-ship Oregon that met 
the Merrimac — or, for that matter, had she met the Merrimac 
and the Monitor combined — on that March morning in 1862, 
the story would have been very different. It was considered 
remarkable then that the Merrimac and the Monitor began 
firing at each other when they were a mile apart, even though 
their shots could make no impression on the iron walls at which 
they were aiming. But the Oregon would not consider it a very 
great feat, in the quiet waters of Hampton Roads, to turn one 
of her big thirteen-inch guns on a target like the Merrimac at a 



§ ?> 



<2 

ft.' ^ 



^ 



^ 




AND THE NATIONS WERE ANGRY. 1 95 

distance of three miles, and expect to hit her with nearly every 
shot. She has four of these thirteen-inch guns, and one of them 
can be loaded, aimed, and fired about every three and a half 
to four minutes. All four of these guns can be swung to either 
broadside at the same time; hence one of these thirteen-inch 
shells can be thrown from her four guns combined on an average 
of one a minute. These shells, weighing eleven hundred pounds, 
are thrown with five hundred fifty pounds of powder ; and instead 
of one of them bounding from the sides of the Merrimac, it 
would crash through such a vessel from side to side, or from 
end to end, for that matter, and still have force enough left to 
drive through two or three more such craft. The striking 
energy of a thir- 
teen-inch shell as 
it leaves the muz- 
zle of the gun is 
thirty-three thou- 
sand six hundred 

tWenty-Seven Marine gun Oil deck of shij. 

foot-tons. That 

is to say, if its force was gradually applied, it would lift that 
number of tons one foot high — a sufficient force to lift such a 
cruiser as the Vizcaya (and she is several times heavier than 
was either the Merrimac or the Monitor) four feet into the air. 
These facts show that a battle-ship like the Oregon could 
have kept completely out of the range of the Merrimac s and 
the Monitors guns while she easily broke the vessels all to pieces 
with her thirteen-inch shells. But, in addition to thirteen-inch 
guns, battle-ships of the Oregon class carry eight eight-inch guns, 
four six-inch guns, twenty six-pounders, and six one-pounders, 
besides several Gatlings or some other type of the machine 
gun. Eight-inch guns are now built that are fired four times in 
sixty-two seconds, practically once every fifteen seconds. The 
projectile weighs two hundred fifty pounds, and will perforate 




196 



HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 




twenty-one inches of iron. It can be imagined how quickly a 
battery of these guns would have made a pepper-box of the 

Merrimac. Then following the 

eight-inch are the six-inch guns, 

which are now built so that they 

can be fired six times in a minute. 

Their projectile weighs a 

hundred pounds, and will 

pierce fifteen inches of iron. 

But if none of these larger guns 

were used against a craft like the 

Merrimac, the torrent of steel 

that could be thrown from the 

small machine guns would drive 

through every port-hole, and in 

a moment of time kill every man 

aboard. 

Thus we see how completely 
the last thirty-six years have revolutionized the weapons of 
war. When we consider the difference between the very best 
battle-ship of 1862 and one of the best ships of 1898, we see 
that no comparison can be made. And nothing has been said 
about the twelve to eighteen-inch steel armor with which the 
modern man-of-war is covered. The best guns of 1862 might 
fire indefinitely at such steel walls, and they would make about 
the same impression that the hammer makes on the anvil. 

It is next to impossible to keep track of the improvements 
in the military and naval profession; for what may be truthfully 
said to-day is likely to be entirely out of date to-morrow. But 
suppose we take one of the many battle-ships that are now 
building. The Harveyized steel plates, which a few months 
ago were considered the best for armor, must be replaced by the 
" Krupp-gas-process" plates, which are such an improvement 
over the Harvey plates that armor ten and eleven inches thick 



The Maxim auto- 
matic machine gun; 
fires 700 rifle bullets a minute 



AND THE NATIONS WERE ANGRY. 



197 




has all the power of resistance possessed by the fifteen-inch to 
eighteen-inch Harvey armor. This allows a vessel to be built 
with all the strength and resistance of the Oregon or the 
Massachusetts, and yet by 
thus lightening her armor 
her coal supply may be so 
increased that she can keep 
at sea much longer. This 
very latest battle-ship 
would have four of the 
monster thirteen-inch guns 
already described. She 
would also have eight 
eight-inch and six six-inch 
quick-fire cannon, the effectiveness and the rapidity of action 
of which have already been mentioned. Then she would have 
among her smaller guns some four-inch cannon firing fifteen 
thirty-three-pound shells a minute, and such machine pieces as 
the Maxim nine-pounder, that fires sixty of such missiles per 
minute — one every second. She would have some six-pounder 
automatics, firing one hundred fifty shots a minute ; also some 
of the one-pounders firing three hundred shells a minute, and 
then the military masts and other convenient parts in this most 

modern battle-ship would have a 

proper supply of the regulation 

machine guns, firing from six 

hundred to twelve hundred of 



[Courtesy of Scientific American .] 

The machine gun that fires a nine-pound shell every second. 




the common infantry rifle-bullets 

per minute. 

Such a modern ship, of course, 

would have a well-fortified base 

of supplies. These fortifications 
would be built after the most approved plans of modern times; 
and in addition to the small machine guns, and the rapid-fire 



The French quick-fire field gun. 



198 



HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 



cannon already described, some of the eight-inch and thirteen- 
inch guns would be mounted on disappearing carriages. These 
carriages enable the gunner to load his piece, take his aim, and 
fire from behind the embankments, without being exposed to 
the direct fire of the enemy. In this modern fort would also 
be several batteries of up-to-date mortars. The harbor that 
the mortars protect is all diagramed; and by careful practise 




[Courtesy of Scientific American.} 

Rafferty Range Finder.— Gun detachment working out range, distance, and direction of the enemy. 

and calculation, it is possible to drop a shell in any section 
where a hostile ship is located. The mortar battery is out of 
sight behind the impenetrable embankments, and its action is 
wholly directed by telephone by the commander, who is on 
some eminence of observation out of danger from the enemy's 
guns. This fort would also be supplied with one or more 
sixteen-inch breech-loading cannon. The latest and biggest 
gun of this type is a few inches less than fifty feet in length, 



AND THE NATIONS WERE ANGRY. 



I 99 




[Courtesy of Scientific American. ^ 

Mortar elevated fot firing. 



and weighs one hundred forty tons. The powder 
chamber is over one and a half feet in diam- 
eter and about nine feet long. 
The shell weighs two thousand 
three hundred seventy pounds, 
and the powder charge is one 
thousand sixty pounds. The 
shell will leave the muzzle with 
a velocity of two thousand feet 
per second and an energy of 
sixty-four thousand eighty-four 
foot tons; or, in other words, the power behind this big shell 
as it leaves the cannon would lift sixty-four of the biggest 
freight locomotives ten feet into the air. At a distance of two 
miles this shell would pass through twenty-seven and one-half 
inches of steel. See the diagram on page 200, which shows 
the actual penetration of a shot fired from one of these guns. 
This modern fort would also have several of the big six-inch, 
eight-inch, ten-inch, and fifteen-inch pneumatic dynamite guns. 
The six-inch dynamite gun throws a two hundred forty pound 
shell, charged with fifty 
pounds of one of the mod- 
ern high explosives, to a 
distance of six 
thousand yards; 
the eight-inch 
gun throws a 
three hundred 
forty pound 
shell, charged 
with one hun- 
dred pounds of 
high explosive, \Wgffg^^_ 

tO a distance Of One section of a mortar battery in action. 



*nr-3?<im<!k. ?^*»e#«W 




200 



HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 



five thousand yards; the ten-inch gun throws a five hundred 
pound shell, charged with two hundred pounds of high explo- 
sive, to a distance of four thousand four hundred yards; and 




Actual penetration of a trial shot from a 16%-inch, no-ton gun. The missile passed through 20 
inches compound plate, 8 inches wrought iron, 20 feet oak timbers, 5 feet granite, 11 feet concrete, and 
buried itself 6 feet in a brick wall. 

the fifteen-inch gun throws a one thousand pound shell charged 
with five hundred pounds of high explosive to a distance of two 
thousand four hundred yards, while the same gun throws a two 
hundred forty pound shell six thousand yards. There are three 
separate fuses to these dynamite shells: one in the head, which 
acts on immersion; one in the base, which acts when a solid 
substance is hit; and the third explodes the shell after sinking 
to the bottom, in case the immersion fuse should happen to fail. 
The Scientific American Supplement of July 9, 1898, says: — 
"In the official test of the three fifteen-inch guns near Fort 
Winfield Scott, San Francisco, it was required that thirty-four 

per cent of hits 
should fall within 
a rectangle measur- 
ing three hundred 
sixty feet by ninety 
feet, at a rang-e of 
five thousand thirty 
yards. In the ac- 
tual test seventy- 
five per cent of the shots fell within this rectangle, and a rect- 
angle of two hundred ten by one hundred fifty-six feet would 
have contained them all. 




Courtesy of Scientific American- ] 

A piece of /6-inch armor plate, showing effect of modern cannon. 



AND THE NATIONS WERE ANGRY. 



20 1 



"This test was made with shells charged with one hundred 
pounds of explosive, the composition of which was: Nitroglyc- 
erine, eighty-seven per cent; guncotton, seven per cent; camphor, 
four per cent; carbonate of magnesia, two per cent. 

"In the same test, two shells of this size were fired from 
different guns at a hillside three thousand seven hundred yards 
distant across the harbor entrance. They struck sixty-one feet 
apart. The craters formed in the soft red rock by the explosions 




[Courtesy of Scientific American.] 
ALL-STEEL. 



NICKEL-STEEL. 

Results of armor-plate tests. 



COMPOUND. 



were bowl-shaped, one being twenty feet in diameter by four 
feet deep, and the other thirty feet in diameter by six feet deep." 

The reader understands, of course, that the shell is thrown 
from these dynamite guns by the force of compressed air, so as 
not to give such a sudden shock as to explode them in the gun 
from which they are fired. What would be the effect of one of 
these shells if dropped on the deck of a ship or anywhere near 
it in the water ! 

Now, it would not be making a wild conjecture at all to say 



v\ 



202 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

that if all the navies of every nation in all the world, covering 
every moment of the earth's history down to March 9, 1862, 
when the Merrimac and the Monitor fought their duel, could 
all be resurrected, together with all their great commanders and 




Sighting with the Dudley pneumatic dynamite gun. 

valiant marines, and all gathered into one place, a single battle- 
ship, with all the latest and best improvements, would have no 
fears nor run any great risks in meeting them alone and single- 
handed. 

The modern battle-ship would have her base of supplies 
protected by all of these great and destructive modern weapons; 
and she would steam out fearlessly into the wilderness of sails 
and masts, of schooners, and galleys, and sloops, and frigates. 
She would not fear their guns ; for if she chose, she could keep 
out of their reach all the time, while she broke the fragile hulls 
of their vessels to pieces with her ponderous shells. Perhaps 
she would not use a thirteen-inch gun except when she had 
from a dozen to forty or fifty of her enemy's vessels in line at 
short range, and could pierce them all at once. It would be 
futile to try to mass a great force against her, and board her, 
overpowering her men and capturing her in that way; for her 
machine guns would mow down the enemy faster than they 
could approach her. Then if they should by some chance 
gather about her in such overwhelming numbers that there 



AND THE NATIONS WERE ANGRY. 



203 



would be danger of her being boarded, her powerful engines 
would drive her through the water so fast that her enemies 
would soon be left far behind; and any vessels that chanced to 
be in her track would be cut in two like the foam of the sea. 
In a word, let it be said that the wildest and most fanciful 
nursery tales that the lowest depths of superstition combined 
with the highest flights of imagination have produced, would 
not be equal to the thrilling facts, if a thoroughly modern battle- 
ship could enter the conflict with anything and everything that 
the naval world produced previous to 1862. What does it all 
mean? Have you ever thought about it? 

Perhaps mention should be made of the fact that these 
modern rapid-fire and machine guns were called out by the 
necessity of finding- something that would destroy the torpedo- 
boats. One of the earliest attempts to use the torpedo-boat 
occurred in the Civil War of the United States. All the nations 




[Courtesy of Scientific American . ] 



The 15-inch pneumatic dynamite gun. 



immediately took to experimenting with this form of craft, and 
soon they had a boat that would run as high as thirty to thirty- 
three knots an hour. The torpedo was also improved, until it 
could be sent straight ahead under its own electric power for a 



204 



HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 



# » 



00 



thousand yards, at the speed of thirty-one knots, and it carries 
from one hundred to two hundred pounds of guncotton with 
which to blow up the object at which it is aimed. While these 
terrible instruments have been in process of development, the 
rapid-fire and machine guns have been invented and perfected 
for the purpose of destroying them and the boats that carry 
them. How successfully this has been accomplished was dem- 
onstrated by the inability of any torpedo-boat to get within 
striking distance 

of the vessels of j 

the American 
Navy in the recent 
war with Spain. 

The slow-burn- 
ing, smokeless 
powder has been 
one of the most 
important factors 
in the develop- 
ment of these pow- 
erful modern guns. 
This powder, as 
shown in the il- 
lustration, does not explode all at once, but begins to burn 
through the holes in the center; and the longer it burns, the 
greater is the surface that is exposed, thereby increasing the 
power as the projectile travels through the barrel of the gun. 
Thus it will be seen that in these newly-devised weapons a 
mass of powder is not ignited all at once, to make a great 
bursting force on the gun itself, but the projectile is started with 
a sort of pushing movement that continues to increase all the 
time it is traveling from the breech to the mouth of the cannon. 
With this slow-burning powder it has been possible greatly 
to increase the length of the gun, while the diameter is not 




Some grains of slow-burning powder. A T os. i, j and 5 show the 
powder before it is burnt, and 2, 4 and 6 after. 



AND THE NATIONS WERE ANGRY. 205 

so great by any means as it would have to be with the old- 
fashioned powder. 

But it may be safely said that experiments with slow-burning 
powder are only in their infancy. There can be no forecast- 
ing what may be done with it in the next year or so. Mr. 
Hudson Maxim, brother to Hiram Maxim, the inventor of 
the wonderful machine guns that bear his name, has done as 
much as any one to develop slow-burning powder, together with 
the various high explosives. He offers a plan of a gun that, 
by using this kind of powder, will throw a shell charged with 
half a ton of guncotton about nine miles, and one charged with 
a ton five miles. This powerful charge will explode where it 
strikes, no matter whether that be on a ship's deck, in the 
water, or on the land. Half a ton of guncotton exploded 
within eighty-five feet of the strongest battle-ship would destroy 
it, and a ton would be fatal to it if exploded within one hundred 
sixty-eight feet, while if he is successful in making his gun 
throw shells charged with a ton of nitrogelatine, he would 
destroy a battle-ship if the shell struck within two hundred fifty 
feet of it. Mr. Maxim calls these frightful missiles aerial tor- 
pedoes, and his weapon an aerial torpedo-gun. The best 
scientific men and journals are discussing his project, and 
think that it is feasible and sooner or later he will be successful 
in perfecting it. 

It has already been stated that one modern battle-ship might 
successfully combat the combined navies of all time previous 
to 1862; and it would not be chimerical or an outbreak of 
fancy to say that were any one of the great nations of to-day 
equipped with magazine breech-loading rifles, machine guns, 
small rapid-fire cannon, dynamite guns, etc., and the Pharaohs, 
and Nebuchadnezzar, and Cyrus, and Alexander, and Hannibal, 
and the Scipios, and Caesars, and Cromwell, and Napoleon, and 
Grant, and Sherman, and Lee, and all the rest of the great 
military leaders of all time previous to 1862, could bring all 



206 



HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 



their armies into the field, armed as each one fought in his day, 
they would be mowed down by these modern engines of death 
before they could possibly get close enough to strike any very 
telling blows. This sounds like fiction, but how literally is it 




Blowing up of the 
" Maine." 



fact instead! Is it not truly significant? Does it not show a 
wonderful transformation? What does it mean? 

At the siege of Baza, 1325, the Saracens are said to have 
had some rude cannon in which powder was used. Then is 
evidence that gunpowder was known and used in very much 
remoter times; but it was not materially improved in its power 
and effectiveness until within the last three decades. During 
these recent years, however, not only is the powerful "slow- 
burning" powder devised, but other explosives are invented that 
are much more terrific than the simple powder. General Nelson 
A. Miles says truly, " There never was a time in the whole 
history of the world when so much ingenuity, wealth, and 
skill were employed in the invention and construction of the 
appliances of war." Why is this intense activity, and this ad- 



AND THE NATIONS WERE ANGRY. 



207 



vancement in the realm of war, all stirred up in one generation ? 

While Gocl has prepared most marvelous agencies for car- 
rying His Gospel to all the world, Satan will pervert the 
great railway and steamship facilities into a means of speedily 
gathering the immense armies of earth to "the battle of that 
great day." A hundred years ago armies had to be marched 
from place to place, or carried, when possible, by the old 
sailboat. How slow do these methods seem when compared 
with the steamship and railway facilities of to-day for mobilizing 
large armies ! When the time is reached for God to withdraw 
His restraint, how quickly can all the armies of the world be 
gathered to Armageddon! 

Some are gathering an unwarranted consolation from the 
idea that these weapons of modern warfare are becoming so 
fearful in their destructiveness that men will be afraid to engage 
each other in 
battle. Never 
was there a 
greater delu- 
sion. When 
the declaration 
of war between 
the United 
States and 
Spain was un- 
der considera- 
tion, no one 
seemed to fear 
the deadly 

weapons that would be used. On both sides men faced these 
modern engines of death with eager daring and heroic courage. 
Dewey steamed his squadron into Manila Bay, supposing 
that it was guarded by such awful submarine mines as the 
one that blew up .the battle-ship Maine. He did not know, 




Battle-ship "Maine" after explosion. 



208 



HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 



on that May morning, that Spanish gunnery was so poor; he 
expected not only to encounter the submarine mines, but to 
engage the powerful guns of both the Spanish fleet and shore 
batteries. In the fearful work of that day, Dewey's fleet poured 
a torrent of death into the Spanish vessels; yet those Spaniards, 
with their comrades lying dead or horribly wounded all about 
them, kept up the fight till their ships went to the bottom under 
the Americans' withering hail of steel. 





[Courtesy olSdifitific American.] 

Ten-inch hreech-loading rifle being fired from a disappearing carriage. 

[From an instantaneous photograph.] 

At Santiago de Cuba, Cervera, who had heard of the valor 
and terrible gunnery of the Americans, did not hesitate to lead 
his squadron single file into the face of the very flower of the 
American Navy. 

The American infantry at Santiago charged upon the Spanish 
fortifications when the desolating storm of steel from the Span- 
iards' Mauser rifles was cutting their ranks in pieces and cov- 



AND THE NATIONS WERE ANGRY. 



209 



ering the hill of battle with their dead and wounded; but there 
was no wavering; there was no hand that offered to lift the 
flag of truce and propose peace because of the dreadful work 
of these modern weapons. In speaking of "Courage in Modern 
Warfare," the Scientific American of July 9, 1898, says: — ■ 

"The present conflict [the war between Spain and the United 
States] has proved that the theorists were altogether wrong — 
at least so far as they discounted the value of the personal 
equation. Daring, dogged endurance, indomitable pluck, fore- 
handed aggressiveness, self-possession in the critical moment — 
all the qualities, indeed, that went to make the ideal soldier in 
the days of the three-deckers and the muzzle-loading rifle, are 
as much a decisive 
factor now as then." 

Pride of national- 
ity and the ambition 
to achieve renown on 
the field of battle al- 
ways have been and 
always will be suffi- 
cient incentives to 
drive men into the 
face of death, even when it seems almost certain that no one 
will come out alive. But, notwithstanding this courage that has 
never yet been wanting in soldiers, there is a feeling of dread 
in the hearts of men at the contemplation of the fearful slaughter 
that will be made in the next great war. 

The support and equipment of these great armies and navies 
are taxing the resources of the nations to the utmost; and 
this tax must ever become more and more burdensome, until 
the final crash is reached; for the expensive navies and their 
equipments that were thoroughly up to date five years ago are 
now so far behind that they have to be almost built over anew; 
and the equipments of the soldier that were the very best five 




Eight-inch gun mounted on Babbington-Crozier disappearing 
carriage, lowered and ready for aiming. 



2IO HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

years ago have to give place to more modern weapons instead. 
In this mad military race each country is anxious to keep 
abreast of the times; but, while they supply the most perfect 
facilities to-day, there is no assurance that the papers to-morrow 
will not announce some new weapon that will render useless all 
the previous great expense incurred for the munitions of war. 

A few statements from leading military men and statesmen 
will be both interesting and instructive in showing how they 
view the war situation at this time. General Nelson A. Miles, 
commander of the United States Army, after his inspection of 
the armies of the Old World in 1897, said: — 

" I have seen all the great armies of Europe except the 
Spanish army. What I have seen does not indicate that the 
millennium is at hand, when swords will be beaten into plow- 
shares." " There are two impressions entertained by many of 
our people that, in my opinion, are not well founded, even 
if they can not be regarded as illusions; and they are certainly 
entitled to full and impartial consideration. One is that we 
have reached the millennium, that the world has become suffi- 
ciently enlightened to abhor war, and to settle all its national 
and international affairs on intelligent and humane principles. 
What facts warrant such a pleasing sentiment, belief, or hope ? 
The heralds of time that record the passing years and months 
record also national strife and wars in some part of the world. 
There never was a time in the whole history of the world when 
so much ingenuity, wealth, and skill were employed in the 
invention and construction of appliances of war." 

The great German military leader, Von Moltke, in describing 
the war struggles and preparations of recent years, wrote thus : — 

" Generally speaking, it is no longer the ambition of mon- 
archs which endangers peace, but the impulses of a nation, its 
dissatisfaction with its internal conditions, the strife of parties, 
and the intrigues of their leaders. The great wars of recent 
times have been declared against the wish and will of the 



AND THE NATIONS WERE ANGRY. 211 

I reigning powers. To-day the question is not so much whether 
the nation is strong enough to make war as whether its govern- 
ment is powerful enough to prevent war." — North American 
Review, March, i8g/f.. 

At the beginning of 1896 Mr. Franklin Mathews wrote the 
following, and his statements are still growing more and more 
intensely true: — 

"The new year opened with the long roll in the armed 
camps of Europe. It sounded also through the United States, 
and its echoes reverberated against the mountains and in the 
valleys of Venezuela and every other country on the American 
continent. The clash of arms was heard in Southern Africa, 
and the eyes of every nation were fixed intently on Great 
Britain Armenia and its horrors were forgotten. Would 
England fight? The great, proud, and boastful England was 
face to face with as great a crisis as any nation in modern times 
has ever met. She was alone, and the war-dogs of every other 
country were almost eager to jump at her throat. Her people 
had sung, ' Britannia Rules the Waves/ until the nation had 
almost felt itself invincible. 

"The United States early in December challenged this 
haughty spirit. England's mock heroics and suppressed laugh- 
ter at the audacity of this country were soon changed to aston- 
ishment at the serious situation ; and then it was seen that no 
nation, England especially, could afford to engage in conflict 
with this country. Then Germany, apparently with no other 
purpose than to humiliate the greatest commercial nation on 
the globe practically threw down the gauge of battle by an 
announcement that England must give up her protectorate of 
the Transvaal Republic. The English people, outraged by what 
they deemed an insult, and maddened almost to desperation, 
simply waited for a single hostile move on the part of Germany 's 
emperor to touch a match to her guns, and let the havoc of 
probably such a war as the world never saw run through Europe. 



212 



HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 



"Then it was that the long roll sounded. Russia set her 
eyes toward Constantinople, France set hers toward Egypt, 
Germany set hers toward England's colonies, and the sultan 
trembled again when he realized that the Armenian atrocities 
had not been forgotten. 

" Every war office in Europe went over its plans of strategy. 
Every plan of mobilization was scrutinized. Every nation took 
account of its stock, of its munitions of war, and of its financial 
strength. The nervous strain of keeping the peace, with millions 
of soldiers ready to fight at any time, seemed to be exhausted, and 
the people began to ask if it were possible to prevent the flames of 
international jealousy and hate from bursting forth into strife, 
zuith practical anarchy and chaos as the price to be paid for it." — 
Leslie s Weekly, January 23, 1896. 

Mr. William E. H. Lecky says in regard to the growth of 
expenditures for war purposes in England, " Between 1835 an d 
1888 it is said to have increased by no less than one hundred 
seventy-three per cent." And in regard to the great armies 

of Europe he further ^ 

says : — 

"With the present 
gigantic armies, wars 
have, no doubt, become 
less frequent, though 
they have become in- 
comparably more ter- 
rible; but can any one 
seriously contend that 
the unrestrained and 
reckless military compe- 
tition of the last few 
years has given Europe any real security, or that either the 
animosities or the aspirations that threaten it have gone down ? 
Are its statesmen confident that an ambitious monarch, or a 







Uu a Chinese war snip. — Battle of the Yalu. 



AND THE NATIONS WERE ANGRY. 



213 



propitious moment, or an alliance, or an invention that materi- 
ally changes the balance of forces, or some transient outburst of 
national irritation injudiciously treated, might not at any moment 
set it once more in a blaze ? 
To strew gunpowder on all 
sides may, no doubt, produce 
caution, but it is not the best j| 
way of preventing an explo- 
sion." — Democracy and Lib- 



... 1 



iwSf 







erty, Vol. I, pp. J06, JI2> Japanese sailors 

working a rapid- 
3^3' fire gun.— Battle 

As long ago as May, ofthe Yalu - 
1894, the Review of Reviews 
said the following concerning Europe's costly armaments: 
"The European nations are beginning to droop and totter 
beneath the ever-accumulating burden of military expenditure. 
There is hardly a country among them that is not at the 
present time struggling desperately to choke the deficit which 
is staring it in the face. In England Sir William Harcourt 
was ^5,000,000 short, which must be provided for by new tax- 
ation. The Indian Empire is proposing to tax all imports 
except cotton five per cent ad valorem to meet its deficit, 
besides adopting other expedients unpopular but necessary. In 
France there is a deficit of nearly $30,000,000, about half of 
which it is proposed to cover by a refunding of loans at a 
lower rate of interest, and the remaining half is to be obtained 
by increased taxation on incomes and spirits, with taxes on 
succession duties. In Italy the new finance minister frankly 
admits the existence of a deficit of about $50,000,000, to be 
met, no one knows how. The country can not bear increased 
taxation, and the chances of any minister who ventured to pro- 
pose retrenchment and the disbanding of surplus employees 
would be practically worthless. Everywhere the statesmen are 
seeking with feverish anxiety for new sources of revenue, but 



214 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

everywhere the insatiable maw of armaments demands more 
and more millions." 

Is it any surprise that such unparalleled preparations for war 
should have caused the Marquis of Salisbury, at the opening of 
the English Parliament, January 19, 1897, to state: — 

"What would you say is the great change that has passed 
over Europe since the older of us were young men ? — It is 
this tremendous increase in the burdens which the necessity of 
self-defense has cast upon every nation of the world. That 
burden goes on getting higher and higher; a larger and larger 
part of the population is devoted to military service; more and 
more money has to be spent in the provision of mechan- 
ical apparatus of war; and as the conquests of science are 
extended, not only are all previous efforts determined to be 
obsolete and have to be thrown away, and something new 
introduced in their place, but a larger and larger proportion of 
public wealth has to be devoted to this unremunerative purpose. 

" The burden has become so serious to many nations that 
many have thought that the day will come when nations will 
rather rush into war and provoke a decision once for all, than 
to continue to groan under the suffering which modern neces- 
sity forces upon them." — London Times, January 20, i8gy,p. 6. 

Lord Salisbury sees no change for the better since he made 
the foregoing statements, in 1897; for in a speech on Lord 
Mayor's day, Nov. 9, 1898, he further said upon this subject: — 

"We have had an invitation from his imperial majesty the 
emperor of Russia, to attend a congress for the disarmament of 
the nations. I offer a most hearty tribute to the motive by 
which that invitation has been dictated. I admire the character 
which can have produced it; and as far as assistance and 
sympathy from us can help him in the task he has undertaken, 
that assistance and sympathy are entirely at his disposal. But 
while we earnestly concur with him in his views and desires, 
we may be permitted to think that until the happy days have 



AND THE NATIONS WERE ANGRY. 215 

arrived when his aspirations are crowned with success, we must 
still have regard to the dangers that surround us, and provide the 
precautions which are necessary. [Cheers.] In some respects 
the era of this great proposition, which I think will be an epoch 
in the history of men — the era of this great proposition has 
been marked by unhappy omens. It is the first year in which 
the mighty force of the American Republic has been introduced 
among the nations, whose dominion is expanding and whose 
instruments, to a certain extent, are war. I am not implying 
the slightest blame — far from it — I am not refusing sympathy 
to the American Republic in the difficulties through which they 
have passed; but no one can deny that their appearance among 
the factors of Asiatic, at all events, and possibly of European 
diplomacy, is a grave and serious event, which may not conduce to 
the interests of peace, though I think that in any event it is likely 
to conduce to the interests of Great Britain. [Hear! Hear!] 
"But what has been pressed upon us is that the subject matter 
of war is terribly prevalent on all sides. You see nations who 
are decaying, or whose government is so bad that they can 
neither maintain the power of self-defense nor the affections of 
their subjects. You see this on all sides, and you also see that 
when the phenomenon takes place there are always neighbors 
who are impelled by some motive or other — it may be from 
the highest philanthropy, it may be from the natural desire of 
empire — • are always inclined and disposed to contest with each 
other as to who shall be the heir to the nation which is falling 
away from its old position. And that is the cause of war. Still 
\more serious is the consideration which recent events have forced 
upon us that these wars come upon us absolutely unannounced and 
with terrible rapidity. The war cloud rises in the horizon with 
a rapidity that obviates all calculation, and, it may be, a month 
or two months after the first warning you receive you find you 
are engaged in or in prospect of a war on which your very 

EXISTENCE IS STAKED. 



21 6 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

" Let us remember we are a great colonial and maritime 
power. There have been great colonial and maritime powers, 
four or five, but they have always fallen because they had a 
land frontier by which their enemies could approach and by 
which their metropolis could be struck. We have no such land 
frontier; but if we ever allow our defenses at sea to fall to such 
a point of inefficiency that it is as easy, or nearly as easy, to 
cross the sea as it is to cross a land frontier, our great empire, 
stretching to the ends of the earth, supported by maritime force in 
every pai't of it, will come clattering to the ground when a blow 
at the metropolis in England is struck. Our whole existence, 
not only our whole prosperity, but the whole fabric by which 
our millions are nourished and sustained — they all depend on 
our being able to defend our own shores against attack, and 
that ability depends on our power at any moment of summoning 
to our aid a maritime force far larger than any opponent can 
bring to bear against us. If you will think out these ideas, you 
will see why we can not admit that in the present state and 
temper of the world we can intermit our naval and military pre- 
cautions. They must be kept constantly on foot." — London Times, 
Nov. 10, i8o8. 

All the foregoing statements are representative. They are 
just such statements as the papers and magazines are full of all 
the time. And this war spirit is ever growing more and more 
intense. 

"Four years ago it was possible to speak of the far eastern 
question as a problem reserved for our children. Indeed, even 
at a later date Lord Rosebery's eye detected it only as a shadow 
lurking 'in the dim vistas of futurity.' To-day, however, the 
question is already definitely posed, and the most sanguine of 
statesmen will not refuse to recognize that it has introduced 
a new peril into the field of international politics." — Fortnightly 
Review, February, i8g8, p. 321. 

There is no more significant sign of our times than the fact 



AND THE NATIONS WERE ANGRY. 219 

that the recent war with Spain has involved the United States 
in complications that will from this time on keep her entangled 
in this "far eastern question." This country is now not only 
one of the great powers, but one among the contending nations. 
Hereafter when European powers are quarreling, the United 
States can not be an idle looker-on. Thus has the war disease 
spread until every nation is in the throes of its delirious fever. 

The year 1898 revolutionized the sentiment of the United 
States upon this subject. From being a nation that proposed 
to remain in its isolation and freedom from the constant broils 
of the Old World, it suddenly makes a right-about-face. Nearly 
a quarter of a million men were called to arms to fight Spain, 
and from the minister in the pulpit to the urchin in the street 
the war spirit was applauded, and all the country was aflame 
with the excitement. The school-children propose to build a 
battle-ship; the little boys have their clothes trimmed like those 
of the soldier and marine; and popular orators dwell upon the 
expanding destinies of the Great Republic. 

But more need not be said to show that the military spirit is 
one of the ruling passions of the age. And when we note the 
awfully destructive implements that have been devised, how 
vivid and impressive are the words of the prophet as he views 
these scenes and describes these times! He says: "My bowels, 
my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh 
a noise in me; I can not hold my peace, because Thou hast 
heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. 
Destruction upon destruction is cried ; for the whole land is 
spoiled; suddenly are my tents spoiled, and my curtains in a 
moment." Jer. 4:19, 20. 

What burning emotions must have been tossing in the mind 
of Jeremiah when he exclaimed, "I can not hold my peace, 
because Thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, 
the alarm of war"! The terrible scenes of the "battle of that 
great day" must have been passing before his vision. He hears 
14 



220 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

the "alarm of war;" the awful weapons that, under the insane 
fury of demons, have been forged against the day of Arma- 
geddon, are doing their terrible work; and every emotion of his 
soul is stirred. 

And how impressively must the very scenes of war prepara- 
tion in which we now dwell, have been caused to pass before the 
prophet Joel when he wrote: " Proclaim ye this among the 
nations: Prepare war; stir up the mighty men; let all the men 
of war draw near, let them come up. Beat your plowshares 
into swords, and your pruning-hooks into spears; let the weak 
say, I am strong. Haste ye, and come, all ye nations round 
about, and gather yourselves together; thither cause Thy mighty 
ones to come down, O Lord. Let the nations bestir themselves, 
and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there will I sit to 
judge all the nations round about. Put ye in the sickle, for the 
harvest is ripe; come, tread ye; for the winepress is full, the 
fats overflow ; for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multi- 
tudes in the valley of decision! for the day of the Lord is near 
in the valley of decision." Joel 3:9-14, R. V. 

Also please read again the following scriptures, and listen to 
the Spirit of God as He impresses them upon the conscience: 
"And the nations were angry, and Thy wrath is come, and the 
time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that Thou 
shouldest give reward unto Thy servants the prophets, and to 
the saints, and them that fear Thy name, small and great; and 
shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth." Rev. 11 : 18. 
"I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth 
of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the 
mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, 
working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth 
and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that 
great day of God Almighty." Rev. 16:13, 14. 

Who can read these clear w T ords of God, and not be deeply 
impressed that they are now having a most literal fulfilment? 



AND THE NATIONS WERE ANGRY. 221 

Listen, I entreat you, to the voice of God speaking to the soul 
by His Spirit through His Word. Do not heed those who in 
this time of peril are saying, " Peace and safety," who are 
asserting that the world is about to join in a universal peace. 
Even amid the din of these last-day preparations for war, the 
voice that falsely assures peace will be raised higher and higher. 
But mark that the Word of God forewarns us in clear and posi- 
tive language: "When they shall say, Peace and safety; then 
sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman 
with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are 
not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief." 
i Thess. 5:3, 4. 

And let no one be calmed by the thought that the war spirit 
of the world has thus far been held back from serious outbreaks, 
and therefore the crash may never come. There is a mighty 
Hand holding the forces of evil in check, so that all the world 
may receive the invitation and prepare to sit at the " marriage 
supper of the Lamb." Says the prophet: — 

"And after these things I saw four angels standing on Me 
four corners of the earth, holding the four winds [strife, war, com- 
motion] of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, 
nor on the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another angel 
ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God ; and 
he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was 
given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, 
neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants 
of our God in their foreheads." Rev. 7:1-3. 

"Wind" and "winds," in these symbolic prophecies, denote 
war and strife, and this scripture not only gives added evidence 
of the warlike condition of the world at the close of time, but 
also informs us that these "winds," or wars, are held by the 
mighty angels of God till His work is accomplished of seeking 
out and "sealing" those who will accept Him. And who has 
not observed that, while all the world is prepared for war, and 



222 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

the "angry nations" are panting for the charge, yet they seem 
powerless to fight? 

Reader, does it not fill you with wonder and gratitude that 
the Father of all mercies is so mindful of your eternal interests ? 
For once these mighty engines of destruction are set in motion, 
where is the power of mind that would enable one to turn away 
from the terror of the horrible massacre to seek and find salva- 
tion ? The Lord has promised, and His promises are sure, to 
keep all who trust Him. By every means that divine and 
infinite love can suggest, He is inviting all to accept Him. And 
to as many as will receive Him the promise is: " He shall dwell 
on high; his place of defense shall be the munitions of rocks; 
bread shall be given him ; his water shall be sure. Thine eyes 
shall see the King in His beauty; they shall behold the land that 
is very far off." Isa. 33 : 16, 17. 

"In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah: 
We have a strong city ; salvation will God appoint for walls and 
bulwarks. Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which 
keepeth the truth may enter in. Thou wilt keep him in perfect 
peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee; because he trusteth in 
Thee. Trust ye in the Lord forever; for in the Lord Jehovah 
is everlasting strength." Isa. 26 : 1-4. 

The dream of a universal peace can never be realized in this 
world while it is filled with wicked men. For "the wicked are 
like the troubled sea, when it can not rest, whose waters cast up 
mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked." 
Isa. 57:20, 21. But of the Saviour, so soon to come in the 
clouds of heaven, the same prophet says: "The government 
shall be upon His shoulder; and His name shall be called Won- 
derful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, 
The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and 
peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon 
his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and 
with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the 



AND THE NATIONS WERE ANGRY. 22^ 

Lord of hosts will perform this." Chapter 9 :6, 7* And of the 
Prince of Peace the inspired poet says, in Ps. 72 12-7, R. V.: — 

" He shall judge Thy people with righteousness, 
And Thy poor with judgment. 
The mountains shall bring peace to the people, 
And the hills, in righteousness. 
He shall judge the poor of the people, 
He shall save the children of the needy, 
And shall break in pieces the oppressor. 
They shall fear Thee while the sun endureth, 
And so long as the moon, throughout all generations. 
He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass : 
As showers that water the earth. 
In His days shall the righteous flourish; 
And abundance of peace, till the moon be no more." 

The day that is about to burst upon us will be filled with 
terrors for him who is unprepared for it. But for him who has 
been reading and heeding the warnings and admonitions of the 
Father in heaven, it will be the gladsome day of all the ages. 
Let each one ask himself, On which side am I standing? If on 
the wrong side, do not tarry, but hasten to accept the lingering 
mercy and salvation that are still offered. 

Who can say how soon the divine decree will cease to hold 
this angry strife in check? And when that day of universal 
and awful war comes, we must be under the protection of the 
Infinite to avoid being borne down beneath the furious charge 
of the angry nations of earth. In these fleeting days of proba- 
tionary time, each one should hasten to unite with the Saviour, 
not merely that he may be saved himself, but that he may be 
instrumental in guiding others to the shelter from the gathering 
storm. 




CHAPTER EIGHTEEN, 

N the Lord's great 
prophecy of H is sec- 
ond coming, as re- 
corded by Luke, He says: ''And there shall be signs in the 
sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth 
distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves 
roaring; men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after 
those things which are coming on the earth ; for the powers of 
heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of 
man coming in a cloud with power and great glory." Luke 
21 : 25-27. 

Mark these further signs that the Lord has given by which 
we may know of His coming. Not only has He told us, as 
seen in preceding chapters, what the character of the people 
(224) 




***>■ 



will be in 

the last days, and of 
the anger of the na- 
tions, etc., but He 
proceeds to describe 

the condition of the very elements at the close of time, with a 
definiteness that would be impossible without a perfect fore- 
knowledge of these events. He says, " There shall be signs 
in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars;" also a "roaring" 
of the "sea and waves." There has always been a "roaring" 
to the "sea and waves." Hence when this prophecy is fulfilling, 
there will be storms by sea that will cause a commotion beyond 
anything seen before. And this very "roaring" of the elements 
will carry with it the unmistakable evidence and conviction that 
the day of judgment is right at hand; for just as surely as 
God has given these things as signs of the coming day, just 
so surely will the conviction settle deeply into the heart that 

(225) 



226 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

He is telling us that His Son is soon to come. The greatness 
of these extraordinary signs in the elements is graphically stated 
in verse 11 of this same chapter in Luke: "And great earth- 
quakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; 
and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven." 
Men inspired by Satan may attempt, as did the magicians 
in Moses' day, to set at naught some of the evidence God has 
given of the approaching end of time. But here are "signs" 
from "heaven," "fearful sights and great signs," so unmistakably 




"Fire a?id pillars of smoke." 

clear that all not only may see, but must see ; and, seeing them, 
they can not escape the conviction of what they mean. The 
prophet Joel says: — 

"And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out 
My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters 
shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young 
men shall see visions; and also upon the servants and upon the 
handmaids in those days will I pour out My Spirit. And I will 
show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, 
and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, 
and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of 
the Lord come. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall 
call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered; for in Mount 
Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath 
said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call." Joel 2:28-32. 



THE VOICE OF THE ELEMENTS. 



22? 



Observe that the foregoing scripture states that all these 
great signs in "sun," "moon," and "earth" are to appear 
"before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come." 
The apostle Pe- 
ter quotes this 
prophecy of Joel 
in full in Acts 
2 : 1 6-2 1. He 
also makes clear 
the time when it 
applies; for he 
says, "It shall 
come to pass in 
the last days" 
that all these 
things will be 
seen. So, then, 
beyond a peradventure, 
the "last days" are to be 
specially distinguished by 
"wonders in the heavens 
and in the earth, blood, 
and fire, and pillars of 
smoke." And as these 
things are seen the con- 
viction deepens in every 
heart that " the great and 
the terrible day of the 
Lord" is right at hand. 

Isaiah testifies to the 
condition of the elements 
in the last days in language quite as forcible and pointed as that 
of Joel. He says: "Howl ye; for the day of the Lord is at 
hand ; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. There- 




" I beheld the mountains, and, to, they 
trembled. . . . And all the birds of the 
heavens . . . Jled." 



228 



HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 



1 „ SSBW 




" The foundations of the earth 
do shake.' 1 '' 



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fore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt; and 
they shall be afraid ; pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them ; 
they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth; they shall 

be amazed one at another; 
their faces shall be as flames. 
Behold, the day of the Lord 
cometh, cruel both with 
wrath and fierce 
anger, to lay the 
land desolate; and 
He shall destroy 
the sinners there- 
of out of it. For 
the stars of heaven 
and the constella- 
tions thereof shall 
not give their light; the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, 
and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. And I will 
punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity ; 
and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will 
lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. I will make a man 
more precious than fine gold ; even a man than the golden wedge 
of Ophir. Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth 
shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the Lord of hosts, 
and in the day of His fierce anger." Isa. 13 .'6-13. 

This scripture also points to the time when "the day of the 
Lord is at hand." And in harmony with scriptures noticed in 
preceding chapters, it shows that men, because of their iniquity, 
"arrogancy," "pride," and "haughtiness," make it necessary for 
the Lord to pronounce the decree, "I will punish the world 
for their evil," and "destroy the sinners thereof out of it." But 
do not fail to note that this scripture says, "I will shake the 
heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the 
wrath of the Lord of hosts, and in the day of His fierce anger." 



THE VOICE OF THE ELEMENTS. 229 

Thus this prophecy, too, forewarns us of a very great com- 
motion in the "heavens" and in the "earth" when that great 
day is imminent. 

But hear Isaiah further: "Behold, the Lord maketh the 
earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, 
and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof. And it shall be, 
as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so 
with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with 
the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the 
borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury 
to him. The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled; 
for the Lord hath spoken this word. The earth mourneth 
and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the 
haughty people of the earth do languish. The earth also is 
defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have trans- 
gressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting 
covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and 
they that dwell therein are desolate ; therefore the inhabitants of 
the earth are burned, and few men left." 

" From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs, 
even glory to the righteous. But I said, My leanness, my 
leanness, wo unto me ! the treacherous dealers have dealt 
treacherously; yea, the 
treacherous dealers have 
dealt very treacherously. 
Fear, and the pit, and the 
snare, are upon thee, O 
inhabitant of the earth. 
And it shall come to pass, 
that he who fleeth from 

'■'■The land shall be utterly emptied." 

the noise of the fear shall 

fall into the pit ; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the 
pit shall be taken in the snare; for the windows from on high 
are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake. The earth 




23O HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth 
is moved exceedingly. The earth shall reel to and fro 

LIKE A DRUNKARD, AND SHALL BE REMOVED LIKE A COTTAGE; 

and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it, and it 
shall fall, and not rise again. And it shall come to pass in 
that day, that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones 
that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth. 
And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered 
in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many 
days shall they be visited. Then the moon shall be confounded, 
and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in 
Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before His ancients glori- 
ously." Isa. 24 : 1-6, 16-23. 

Again in this scripture is the great sinfulness of the last 
days brought to view. "The earth also is defiled under the 
inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, 
changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant," says 
the prophet. He states also that "the treacherous dealers have 
dealt treacherously; yea, the treacherous dealers have dealt 
very treacherously;" and, speaking of the earth, he says, "The 
transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it." Note, too, that 
this scripture adds its testimony to the fact that the elements 
will be raging at the close of time. Observe its thrillingly clear 
statements: "Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and 
maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down." And again, 
"The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled; for the 
Lord hath spoken this word." Then follow the startling state- 
ments: "Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O 
inhabitant of the earth. And it shall come to pass, that he who 
fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he 
that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the 
snare; for the windows from on high are open, and the founda- 
tions of the earth do shake. The earth is utterly broken down, 
the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly. 



THE VOICE OF THE ELEMENTS. 23 1 

The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be 
removed like a cottage." 

When the Lord is "making- the earth empty" and "waste" 
and "turning it upside down;" when the very "foundations of 
the earth do shake;" when it "is utterly broken down," and 
"clean dissolved;" when it is "moved exceedingly" — aye, when 
"the earth shall reel to and fro" like the unsteady movements 
of the "drunkard," and "shall be removed like a cottage," surely 
then there will be a raging of the elements that will strike with 
terror every soul that is not safely anchored to the Rock of 
Ages. And who has not been impressed, when observing the 
fury of our modern hurricanes, tidal waves, and cyclones, that 
these mighty storms, growing as they are so much more violent 
and frequent, are surely the beginning of the fulfilment of these 
prophetic utterances ? 

On this same subject Jeremiah says: "I beheld the earth, 
and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and 
they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they 
trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. I beheld, and, lo, 
there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. 
I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the 
cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the Lord, 
and by His fierce anger. For thus hath the Lord said, The 
whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end. 
For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black; 
because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not 
repent, neither will I turn back from it." Jer. 4:23-28. 

Thus we see that the Scriptures proclaim over and over 
again that "at the presence of the Lord," "shall the earth 
mourn," the "heavens above be black," "the fruitful place" 
shall be turned into "a wilderness, and all the cities thereof" 
be "broken down." 

With these scriptures in mind, how impressive is the voice 
of the modern hurricane and the cyclone, whirling with such 



232 



HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 




terrific fury as to defy de- 
scription, and the frightful 
and deafening roar of the 
tidal wave! Most of the 
people living to-day have 
not only seen such pictures 
as those on the accom- 
panying pages, but 
have seen the furious 
lashing and twisting 
of the storms 
they repre- 
sent. And 



Scenes in the great 
St. Louis tornado. 



THE VOICE OF THE ELEMENTS. 



233 



as these things 
appear, the con- 
viction deepens 
in every heart 

that "the great and the terrible day of the 
Lord" is nigh at hand. 

The reader is aware of the fact that 
there is no portion of the world now that is 
exempt from these terrific storms. During 
the history of all past time prior to the 
middle of this century, comparatively few 
great storms are men- 
tioned. But in the great 
storms, as in everything 
else that characterizes 
this remarkable 
century, there has 
been a most mar- 
velous increase, 
both in the fre- 
quency and the ter- 
rific fury of the 
tempestuous hurri- 
canes that carry 
such destruction all 
along their track. 
Not alone the west- 
ern prairies, but the more densely-populated districts of the 
east, with the old historic countries of Europe and the Orient, 
feel the desolating power of the great cyclone. The cyclone 
cellars, and other places of refuge from these storms (a device, 
by the way, that our fathers knew nothing about), testify to the 
fear that has already been created in the minds of men by the 
desolation of the tornado. But there is a better refuge from 




' ' The cyclone, 
whirling with . . . 
terrific fury." 



234 



HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 



raging storms than anything man can devise; and in every 
''roar" of the elements our ear should catch the call to flee to 
the strong Tower, the only Saviour. 

Perhaps the great tornado at St. Louis, Mo., May 27, 1896, 
is among the most terrific storms on record. And the destruc- 
tion which visited only a part of that great city, is yet to sweep 
over all before the close of time; for we have been forewarned, 
in the scriptures quoted in this chapter, that "the fruitful place" 
will become "a wilderness, and all the cities thereof" will be 
'broken down at the presence of the Lord, and by His fierce 
anger." Jer. 4 : 26. 

Not only are tornadoes and storms of that class increasing 
in violence and frequency, but the earthquake, the tidal wave, 
and volcanic commotions are becoming much more frequent, 

and are often felt now- 
adays in places where 
the "reeling to and 
fro " of the earth was 
never known before. 
You have observed 
these great upheavals 
and demonstrations in 
nature ; the Scriptures 
tell us what they sig- 
nify. 

The hail-storms of 
modern times, while 
not so severe and de- 
structive as they will 
be, are worthy of note 
in this connection. 
The Lord asked Job the question, " Hast thou entered into the 
treasures of the snow? or hast thou seen the treasures of the 
hail, which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against 
the day of battle and war?" Job 38: 22, 23. 




" Storms of hail that leave 
ruin in their track.'''' 



THE VOICE OF THE ELEMENTS. 



235 




'And the waters shall 
overflow." 



Then God has "treasures of hail" which He has "reserved 
against the time of trouble," "the day of battle and war." This 
"time of trouble," "the day of battle and war, '\ is now right 
upon us, and we should expect to see a beginning made in 
the casting out of 
those "treasures 
of hail" which 
God has "re- 
served" against 
this time. Con- 
cern ing these 
days of exceed- 
ing wickedness 
•the Lord says, 
"Judgment also 
will I lay to the 

line, and righteousness to the plummet; and the hail shall sweep 
away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding- 
place." Isa. 28 : 17. 

These "treasures of hail" with which God is about to sweep 
away the refuge of lies are beginning to be brought out. It is 
not uncommon to read of storms of hail that leave ruin in their 
track. And it may not be amiss to again say that the Scrip- 
tures have foretold the significance of it. And these storms 
that have already appeared, fearfully destructive though they 
may have been, are but the beginnings of what will be seen all 
over the world when God "shall sweep away" the last "refuge 
of lies," and restore again the purity and truth of Eden. 

Not only are these various kinds of storms given as signs of 
the coming day, but we are told that one of the "seven last 
plagues" is to be the scorching of men with "great heat" from 
the sun. "And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the 
sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. 
And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the 
15 



236 



HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 



name of God, 
which hath 
power over 
these plagues; 
and they re- 
pented not to 
give Him 
glory." Rev 
16:8, 9. 

Now it is 
evident that 
the "seven last 
plagues" are 
not as yet be- 
ing poured out, 
yet the evi- 
dence is con- 
clusive that we 
are living in 
the very pres- 
ence of the time when these plagues must soon begin. And in 
the torrid waves that sweep over the land, the world is having 
a little foretaste of what that time will be. Particularly during 
the summer season such head-lines to the news of the day as 
the following are of constant occurrence: " Elements in a Fury;" 
"Sun Shows No Mercy;" "Business Paralyzed by Heat;" 
"Torrid Wave General." Such newspaper headings might be 
continued indefinitely; but it is unnecessary. The reader knows 
these facts too well to require more than the merest mention 
of them. 

How strikingly clear is the evidence God has given us of the 
approach of that "great day"! Is it not truly marvelous that 
divine foreknowledge, thousands of years in advance, could 
present these things so graphically? It is certain that infinite 




THE VOICE OF THE ELEMENTS. 



m 




"The Lord . . . turneth 
it upside down, and scaltereth abroad 
the inhabitants thereof." 



love has exhausted its infinite 
powers in making clear to us 
the signs by which we may 
know that the one event of all 
the ages is "even at the doors." 
All this testimony is accumu- 
lating, and presenting itself in 
vivid outlines on every hand. 
When we hear the "sea and 
the waves roaring;" when the 
"fearful sights and great signs" 
that there shall be from heaven, 
together with "famines and 
pestilences," shall be seen in 
all the land; when we behold "in the earth, blood, and fire, and 
pillars of smoke;" when the "destruction from the Almighty" is 
laying "the land desolate;" when "the Lord maketh the earth 
empty," and "waste," and "turneth it upside down," and it "is 
utterly broken down," "clean dissolved," "moved exceedingly," 
and is "reeling to and fro like a drunkard;" when we behold the 
mountains, and, lo, they tremble, and all the hills move lightly; 
when we see the "fruitful place a wilderness, and all the cities 
thereof broken down;" when the "treasures of hail," with which 
God will "sweep away the refuge of lies," is devastating the land; 
and when on every hand we see men "scorched with great heat;" 
aye, when the awful raging of all the elements is in dreadful 
commotion all about us, and the stoutest of "men's hearts are 
failing them for fear, and for looking after those things that are 
coming on the earth" — then it is that our Lord bids us, "Look 
up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh." 
These multiplied signs all over the land, terrible in majesty, 
power, and destruction though they may be, are among the 
heralds by which God permits the coming of His Son to be 



238 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

proclaimed. The soul is stirred to its deepest and most sublime 
emotions as the awe-inspiring voice of the elements, in tones of 
the deepest thunder's roar, entreats the whole world to " prepare 
to meet thy God." 

Many, in thinking of these things, see only the terror; but 
our heavenly Father does not desire that these commotions of 
the elements, manifested in terrific hurricanes, cyclones, tidal 
waves, earthquakes, hail-storms, and scorching heat, shall fill 
the heart with indescribable fear and dismay. These signs are 
not permitted in order to terrify us, but rather to let us know 
that this old earth is tossing and " reeling to and fro" amid the 
shoals and breakers near the farther shore of time, where the 
reign of sin shall cease. They are evidences that the Son of 
man is about to return; and the word of our Father to us is: 
"Come, My people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut 
thy doors about thee; hide thyself as it were for a little moment, 
until the indignation be overpast. For, behold, the Lord 
cometh out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth 
for their iniquity; the earth also shall disclose her blood, and 
shall no more cover her slain." Isa. 26:20, 21. 

In this time our Lord assures us: "Thou shalt not be afraid 
for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; 
nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the 
destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at 
thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall 
not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold 
and see the reward of the wicked. Because thou hast made 
the Lord, which is my refuge, even the Most High, thy habita- 
tion ; there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague 
come nigh thy dwelling. For He shall give His angels charge 
over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee 
up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. 
Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder; the young lion and 
the dragon shalt thou trample under feet. Because he hath set 



THE VOICE OF THE ELEMENTS. 



239 



his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him; I will set him on 
high, because he hath known My name. He shall call upon 
Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will 
deliver him, and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him, 
and show him My salvation." Ps. 91 15-16. 

All these "exceeding great and precious promises" apply at 
this time. Ponder each one prayerfully. They are all your?. 
God wants to remove all dismay and terror from the heart 
of His people in this time when He is preparing to make a 
complete destruction of all sin. For all who will accept Him 
as their Saviour, His "perfect love will cast out all fear," and fill 
the soul with an indescribable joy. 




»*y 








CHAPTER NINETEEN, 



NOT only do the elements overhead testify of the coming 
day, but the very ground itself is called upon to bear 
witness to the nearness of the end of time. "And, Thou, 
Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; 
and the heavens are the works of Thine hands; they shall 
perish; but Thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth 
a garment; and as a vesture shalt Thou fold them up, and they 
shall be changed; but Thou art the same, and Thy years shall 
not fail." Heb. i : 10-12. Here the direct and plain language 
is used that so fully characterizes the Bible. Speaking of the 
earth, and of the atmosphere, or heavens, connected with it, the 
apostle says, "They all shall wax old as doth a garment; and as 
a vesture shalt Thou fold them up, and they shall be changed." 
Thus the burden of decay because of the curse occasioned by 
sin rests heavily on old mother earth, and she "waxes old." 
Isaiah bears witness to the decrepitude of the earth, as 
follows: "Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon 
the earth beneath; for the heavens shall vanish away like 
smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they 
that dwell therein shall die in like manner; but My salvation 
shall be forever, and My righteousness shall not be abolished." 
(240) 



THE TESTIMONY OF THE EARTH. 24 1 

Isa. 51 : 6. Here, again, the statement is made that the "earth 
shall wax old like a garment." And as the night of sin settles 
darker and still darker upon it, the curse which sin has caused is 
more and more deeply felt. Jeremiah, in speaking of the closing 
days of time, says: "I beheld,, and, lo, the fruitful place was 
a wilderness." Jer. 4:26. Then the "waxing old" of the 
earth involves changing places once "fruitful" into a barren 
"wilderness." The departing of earth's vigor of youth, and 
the infirmities of age creeping over her, are thus pointed out as 
among the unmistakable tokens of her approaching dissolution. 

But there is perhaps no portion of Scripture that sets forth 
the general, decay of the earth as an evidence of the coming end 
of time more forcibly than the first chapter of Joel's prophecy. 
The prophet says: — 

" Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of 
the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days 
of your fathers? Tell ye your children of it, and let your 
children tell their children, and their children another generation. 
That which the palmer- worm hath left hath the locust eaten; 
and that which the locust hath left hath the canker-worm eaten ; 
and that which the canker-worm hath left hath the caterpillar 
eaten. Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye 
drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut off 
from your mouth. For a nation is come up upon my land, 
strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, 
and he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion. He hath laid my 
vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he hath made it clean bare, 
and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white. 

"Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband 
of her youth. The meat-offering and the drink-offering is cut 
off from the house of the Lord ; the priests, the Lord's ministers, 
mourn. The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is 
wasted; the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth. Be ye 
ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vine-dressers, for the 



242 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

wheat and for the barley ; because the harvest of the field is 
perished. The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; 
the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even 
all the trees of the field, are withered; because joy is withered 
away from the sons of men. Gird yourselves, and lament, ye 
priests; howl, ye ministers of the altar; come, lie all night in 
sackcloth, ye ministers of my God; for the meat-offering and 
the drink-offering is withholden from the house of your God. 
"Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders 
and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord 
your God, and cry unto the Lord, Alas for the day ! for the 

DAY OF THE LORD IS AT HAND, AND AS A DESTRUCTION FROM THE 

Almighty shall it come. Is not the meat cut off from our 
eyes, yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God? The 
seed is rotten under their clods, the garners are laid desolate, 
the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered. How 
do the beasts groan ! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because 
they have no pasture ; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate. 
O Lord, to Thee will I cry; for the fire hath devoured the pas- 
tures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the trees 
of the field. The beasts of the field cry also unto Thee ; for the 
rivers of waters are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the 
pastures of the wilderness. BLOW YE THE TRUMPET 
IN ZION, AND SOUND AN ALARM IN MY HOLY 
MOUNTAIN; LET ALL THE INHABITANTS OF 
THE LAND TREMBLE; FOR THE DAY OF THE 
LORD COMETH, FOR IT IS NIGH AT HAND." 
Joel 1 :2-20; 2 : 1. 

The fifteenth verse of chapter 1 and the first verse of chapter 
2 of this prophecy of Joel show that the "day of the Lord" 
is, the time to which the prophet's vision is directed; and his 
description of what would be seen in the world at that time is 
most direct and forcible. In the other scripture quoted we have 
seen that the earth is to "wax old like a garment;" this chapter 



THE TESTIMONY OF THE EARTH. 243 

in Joel goes into particulars, and tells us quite fully what this 
waxing old means. First, we are told of the insects and worms 
that would be a destruction to crops. The "palmer-worm," the 
"locust," the "canker-worm," and the "caterpillar" are mentioned ; 
and then, after calling to the drunkard to "weep and howl" 
because the wine is "cut off," it is stated, "For a nation is come 
up upon my land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are 
the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion. 
He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree; he hath 
made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are 
made white." Joel i :6, 7. 

Thus it is seen that not simply the few destructive insects 
and worms mentioned will be working havoc on vegetation, but 
a "nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without 
number," and as the result the vine is laid waste, and the 
drunkard's wine is cut off; but while his supply of wine is "cut 
off," the drunkard still has his appetite for strong drink, and so 
"weeps" and "howls." It is far better to get rid of these 
perverted desires now, so that in the time so soon to come we 
will be free in God. 

Note the force of other statements in this remarkable scrip- 
ture: "The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is 
wasted; the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth. Be ye 
ashamed, O ye husbandmen ; howl, O ye vine-dressers, for the 
wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is 
perished. The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; 
the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even 
all the trees of the field, are withered; because joy is withered 
away from the sons of men." Joel 1:10-12. 

What a striking picture: The field wasted, the land mourn- 
ing, the harvest of the field perished, the vine dried up, and the 
apple tree, even all the trees of the field, withered. But this is 
not all. Read again: "The seed is rotten under their clods, 
the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down ; for 



244 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

the corn is withered. How do the beasts groan! the herds 
of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the 
flocks of sheep are made desolate. O Lord, to Thee will I cry; 
for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and 
the flame hath burned all the trees of the field. The beasts of 
the field cry also unto Thee; for the rivers of waters are dried 
up, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness. 
Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in My holy 
mountain ; let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the 
day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand." Joel i : 1 7-20; 
2:1. Who can mistake the import of these thrilling and heart- 
searching words? 

How impressive is this chapter of Joel, telling us how 
literally and absolutely the earth "shall wax old as doth a 
garment," and how completely it shall molder to decay! The 
words of Isaiah make plain the cause of all this: "The earth 
shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like 
a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon 
it; and it shall fall, and not rise again." Isa. 24:20. 

"The transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it." Then 
it is the "transgression" — the curse occasioned by sin — that 
results in all this ruin and desolation. The individual who 
chooses to disregard the laws of nature, has to suffer the conse- 
quences of his folly. Instead of the ruddy glow of health, the 
pallor of the countenance shows that the fires of consuming 
disease are burning within. And so with our old earth. The 
curse of "the transgression thereof" is "heavy upon it." Man's 
gross iniquities have corrupted it, until it, too, is breaking 
beneath the load, and "waxes old," ready for the consuming 
fires of the last days. Our kind heavenly Father would have 
prevented all this suffering if sinful man had only submitted to 
the wooing of His divine and amazing love; but this being 
rejected, the only consistent thing left for the Lord to do is to 
allow sin to run its course, till the time is reached when every 



THE TESTIMONY OF THE EARTH. 245 

imagination of the thoughts of man's heart is only evil contin- 
ually. When this time comes, there will be no longer a ray of 
hope that any one can be made better, but, rather, it will be 
evident that all have become so depraved that the most merciful 
thing is to bring this reign of sin to an end by the judgments of 
the last days. 

Every tiller of the soil is painfully aware of the fact that it 
is becoming more and more difficult to raise a crop. It is not 
uncommon to find such headings in the papers as, "Grasshoppers 
in South Dakota." So far the grasshoppers have been largely 
confined to the western states; but there are numerous other 
pests and crop-destroyers that reach all parts of the land. 
Under the heading of "The Annual Battle with Insects," Geo. 
E. Walsh has the following to say in the Scientific American 
of July 10, 1897: — 

"For a quarter of a century science has been laboring in the 
cause of agriculture to reduce the number of garden pests and 
to hold them in ch^ck. The annual battles with the insect foes 
are carried on energetically from early spring till late autumn; 
and the farmer or gardener is not quite sure of his crops until 
they have been actually harvested. In spite of all the protective 
agencies that science has surrounded the fields and gardens with, 
disasters of gigantic proportions will break out occasionally 
through the sudden growth of some species of obnoxious insect 
or fungous growth. It is the destruction of the potato crop, one 
season, by the Colorado beetle; the total failure of the wheat- 
fields in certain states by the rust or blight, another year; or 
the wide-spread injury to the cotton plants by the boll-worms. 
Somewhere within the United States some crop is pretty sure to 
be seriously damaged by the insects or the fungous growth nearly 
every season. ... By the middle of summer, insect foes are 
swarming all over the garden and on every plant. Plant-lice, 
or aphides, attack all weak plants, and they multiply at the rate 
of from five to twenty millions in a season from one progenitor." 



246 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

It is unnecessary to multiply testimony upon this point. 
Every one who has anything to do with the raising of fruit 
or grain, or any kind of plants, knows the truthfulness and 
universal application of what Mr. Walsh says. Thousands 
have been impressed by the increasing difficulty of maturing a 
crop; but have they realized that it is because the earth is 
"waxing old" and crumbling to decay in consequence of the 
corrupting transgressions that are polluting it? And this is but 
another link in the great chain of evidence that shows us so 
conclusively that "the end of all things is at hand." 

A result of this general decay of the earth as we approach 
the end will be wide-spread famine and pestilence. For has not 
the Lord said that "great earthquakes shall be in divers places, 
and famines, and pestilences ; and fearful sights and great signs 
shall there be from heaven" (Luke 21:11)? 

"Famines" and "pestilences" have been seen in the earth 
during all the ages, as both history and the Scriptures plainly 
show, and so in themselves alone could not constitute a sign of 
the end. But the "famines and pestilences '' of past centuries 
have been as nothing compared with what we may expect in 
these closing decades of time. The words of the prophet again 
come vividly to mind: "The earth also is defiled under the inhab- 
itants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed 
the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath 
the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are 
desolate; therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and 
few men left." Isa. 24:5, 6. 

So when the earth becomes "defiled .under the inhabitants 
thereof," then it is that it will be said, "Therefore hath the 
curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are 
desolate." And when it can be said that the awful "curse" of 
sin has "devoured" the earth, any former pestilence or famine 
will be compared to the experiences of that time but as a 
shadow. The recent famines in India, the failure of crops m\ 



THE TESTIMONY OF THE EARTH. 247 

various parts of this country, as well as elsewhere in the world, 
are but the dim beginnings of what the condition will be when 
the time so vividly described by the prophets is fully reached. 

New forms of disease are constantly breaking out among 
both men and beasts. These diseases become epidemic, and 
spread over the land as a destroying plague. Scientific men are 
studying these growing infirmities and their causes. They have 
demonstrated that they are all a consequence* of the violation of 
nature's laws and of atmospheric conditions that are growing 
more and more unfavorable to health. The " surfeiting," the 
"drunkenness," the licentious vices, against which such faithful 
warnings have been given in the Word of God, are at the root 
of all these physical ills of humanity. But pointing out the evil 
does not cause it to cease. Appetite and passion and a general 
indifference to nature's inexorable laws, close the minds of men, 
and the warnings are unheeded. 

The knowledge of sanitary and medical service was never 
so great as it is to-day, never so capable of elevating and puri- 
fying the world from its load of corrupting ailments; but men 
go blindly ahead, in the face of light and of demonstrated facts of 
physical law, ever plunging deeper and deeper into the degrad- 
ing and destroying sins against their physical being. It can 
not be said that it is through necessary ignorance that they are 
doing this; for it would seem that God is concentrating every 
ray of light regarding the laws of life and health upon the 
people of this generation. 

Through the applied knowledge of physiological and sani- 
tary law, a wonderful work has been done. The average length 
of life has been materially advanced; but, as recently pointed 
out by one of the world's most thoughtful, scholarly, and suc- 
cessful physicians, this lengthening of the average of life is 
not the hopeful thing that the statistics would indicate. The 
recent achievements of science enable the doctor to keep 
those afflicted with the numerous infectious and contagious 



240 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

diseases alive for a much longer time than formerly; but it is 
only that they may produce their kind, who will be still further 
weakened by the accumulating tendency to disease. Thus even 
the lengthening of life is not producing the results that appear 
on the surface. There can be no disguising the real fact that 
the race is growing weaker; and it is made clear by both the 
Word of God and our common every-day observation that all 
this is because of the " transgressions," the "surfeiting," the 
"drunkenness," and the prevailing vices of this age. 

And our earth itself is groaning because of "the transgres- 
sion thereof" that is "heavy upon it." The pollutions of man- 
kind, their transgression of physical law, their failure to observe 
the most thoroughly demonstrated .principles of sanitary science, 
creates a soil for the growth of the germs of decay and pesti- 
lence. And Satan, who is "come down unto you, having great 
wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time," 
exerts his power to increase and intensify the ever-expanding 
evil. This evil one has been in the school of sin for six thou- 
sand years; he has access to the laboratories of nature, and his 
extended research enables him to know how most successfully 
to combine the elements of transgression to produce the most 
malignant seeds with which to scatter the epidemic of decay. 
Some may be inclined to regard this lightly; but let such look 
at the striking utterances of the Word of God, listen to the 
voice of His Spirit impressing these words upon the soul, view 
the real and startling facts as they stand out around us, and 
prepare soon to meet this plain and unbroken testimony at the 
bar of the Eternal. 

Our Father in heaven is not the author of such suffering as 
appears in the world to-day; it sometimes seems hard to under- 
stand why He permits it even. But sin has lifted its hideous 
and cruel head in this planet of ours, and all the universe of 
God must have the object-lesson of what Satan, by his reign of 
hatred and self-serving, would accomplish. He has sought to 



THE TESTIMONY OF THE EARTH. 249 

make it appear that the Father in heaven is a "hard man, 
reaping where" He had "not sown, and gathering where" He 
had "not strewed." So sin must be allowed to develop. Its 
consequent miseries, its debasing and polluting corruptions, its 
cruel torments, must ripen into the harvest of evil. Then all 
will see for themselves what the terrible fruits of sin are; and 
the declaration of the rebel chief's proposition that our Gqd 
is a "hard man" will be forever overthrown by the unanimous 
testimony of the universe. And when the last vestige of sin 
is destroyed, and with it all the suffering and sorrow that it has 
produced, with what exultation will "every creature which is 
in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as 
are in the sea, and all that are in them," join in that swelling 
anthem, "Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto 
Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever 
and ever" (Rev. 5:13)! 

This song of deliverance will soon be sung by the redeemed 
of God, in the presence of all the universe. What a happy day 
it will be ! and how we should rejoice at each fresh evidence of 
the return of the " Prince of Peace" ! The world is now waiting 
to hear the good news of His coming, and to be entreated to 
prepare to meet Him. God is calling for each one. He is now 
saying, " Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel 
them to come in." The compulsion that He uses is the divine 
force of His matchless love; and may we be admonished, by all 
these signs of His coming, to receive the heavenly Guest into 
our hearts, and so not only be ready to meet Him, but become 
messengers of righteousness through whom others may be won 
to the "Lamb of God, w T hich taketh away the sin of the world." 



"CUben Ye shall see all these tilings? 








CHAPTER TWENTY. 



SO likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that 
it [margin, "He"] is near, even at the doors." Matt. 
24:33. We are bidden by this word of the Master to 
"know" when we shall see "all these things," that He is near, 
even at the doors. "When these things begin to come to pass, 
then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption 
draweth nigh." Luke 21:28. When we "begin" to see the 
signs that the Saviour has pointed to as the tokens of His 
soon coming, then are we to "look up, and lift up our heads;" 
for our redemption "draweth nigh" but when we see "all" the 
signs He has mentioned, then are we to "know" that He is 
"even at the doors" 

There have been deceptions of Satan in all the past centuries, 
but never such deceptions as his millenniums of experience and 
long schooling in the ways of sin will enable him to present in 
these last days. 

There have been here and there some very remarkable things 
scattered along through the ages of the past; but nowhere and 
at no time has there been an age so filled with a bewildering 
mass of achievements, discoveries, and inventions as the one in 
which we live. 

The Gospel has made miraculous advancement as the centu- 
ries have come and gone; but it was reserved to the latter part 
of the nineteenth century to build the great printing-presses, the 
(250) 



WHEN YE SHALL SEE ALL THESE THINGS. 25 I 

railways, and the steamships, and send out the printed Scriptures 
into the homes of the kindreds and tongues of earth. 

Great errors have spread over sections of the earth in bygone 
days; but nothing has ever more firmly rooted itself in the minds 
of "many people" than the unscriptural present-day doctrine of 
a peace millennium. 

There have been plague-spots of crime in different ages 
and localities; but never since the days of Noah has it been 
so apparent that the greater portion of the human race was 
sinking into the lowest depths of injustice, violence, and vice. 

Formality, superstition, and consequent apostasy have in 
many different periods planted the seeds of corruption and evil 
in the church that claimed to represent the Son of God; but 
never has the church, in the presence of such opportunities, 
facing such difficulties and dangers, possessing such intellectual 
possibilities and material facilities for good, and holding such 
stores of light, seemed to stand in such a lukewarm, careless, 
and compromising indifference. 

The pleasures and follies of idle amusements have always 
played a part among Satan's devices to lure men to sin; but 
never as to-day has the world been given up to the fun that 
debases, debauches, and destroys. 

There have been wealthy men in every nation and in every 
age; but never has there been such a " heaping" together of 
treasure, connected with the "cries of the laborers," as is seen 
and heard at the present hour. 

There have been "wars and rumors of wars;" but never 
before have the nations of all the earth been so "angry," and 
never has it been made manifest that the "spirits of devils" had 
gone to the "kings of the earth and of the whole world, to 
gather them to the battle of that great day." 

There have been great storms and pestilences here and there 
all down the ages ; but never have the lashing elements filled the 

inhabitants of earth with such forebodings as now, 

16 " & 



252 



HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 



There have been failures of crops and consequent famines in 
different localities and at divers times; but never as now has the 
evidence made itself seen and felt that the earth is " waxing old 
like a garment," as beneath its load of " transgression" it begins 
to crumble to decay. 

When we see these things " begin to come to pass," we are 
to "look up;" but when we see "all these things," then are we 
to "know that He is near, even at the doors." How do these 
things impress you? Do you see "all these things"? Let 
each answer to his own conscience and to God. Controversy 
and heated discussion are not invited. Professed Christians 
have already been cursed with too much of that. But the 
reader is earnestly entreated closely to heed God's Word, and 
so prepare for that eternity of existence that is given to all who 
will accept it. And how joyful the thought that the night of sin 
is almost ended, and that the heralds of the day of endless 
glory are trumpeting the invitation, "Come; for all things are 
now ready"! 







rote 




CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE. 

AND at that time shall 
Michael stand up, the 
great Prince which stand- 
eth for the children of thy peo- 
ple; and there shall be a time 
of trouble, such as never was 
since there was a nation even 
to that same time; and at that 
time thy people shall be deliv- 
ered, every one that shall be 
found written in the book. 
And many of them that sleep 
in the dust of the earth shall 
awake, some to everlasting- life, 
and some to shame and ever- 
lasting contempt." Dan. 12:1, 2. The "great Prince which 
standeth for the children of thy people" can be none other than 
Christ, whom this text calls Michael. Christ says of His pres- 
ent position that He is set down with His "Father in His 
throne." Rev. 3:21. He is seated thus with His Father to 
act as our intercessor and high Driest. 

O J. 

But the foregoing text from Daniel tells of the time when 
He "stands up." His work as intercessor and high priest is 
finished, and He "stands up" to be robed with the vesture on 
which is written "King of kings, and Lord of lords." The 

(253) 



2 54 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

great day of emancipation is at hand; for "at that time thy 
people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written 
in the book." Dan. 12:1. 

Of those whose names are "written in the book" another 
scripture says: "I saw the dead, small and great, stand before 
God ; and the books were opened ; and another book was 
opened, which is the book of life ; and the dead were judged 
out of those things which were written in the books, according 
to their works." Rev. 20 : 12. 

Thus do the Scriptures clearly show that to deliver "every 
one that shall be found written in the book " is the great work 
of the judgment and the resurrection. This fact is made still 
clearer and is more fully emphasized by the words of Daniel 
already quoted, "And many of them that sleep in the dust 
of the earth shall awake." Dan. 12:2. Thus from every 
standpoint how clearly may it be seen that this "standing 
up" of Michael is associated with the judgment scenes and 
the resurrection at that great day when Christ shall come. 

In connection with these thoughts, observe that the prophet 
also says that there shall be "a time of trouble, such as never 
was since there was a nation even to that same time." Daniel 
had a wonderful view in minute outline of the rise and fall 
of nations, beginning with his own day and reaching down to 
the second coming of Christ. All the bloody scenes of all the 
bloody wars that would arise during all the conflicts, the strug- 
gles and oppressions of the ages, were made to be familiar to 
Daniel's prophetic eye. Yes, even the French Revolution, with 
its shocking brutalities, its horrors, and its "Reign of Terror," 
was viewed by the prophet. And then the vision of the "time 
of the end" is given him; he sees the difficulties, the evils, and 
the perplexities; he beholds that which causes Michael to "stand 
up" as "King of kings and Lord of lords;""and then he pens 
the prophetic words, "There shall be a time of trouble, such as 
never was since there was a nation even to that same time." 



THERE SHALL BE A TIME OF TROUBLE. 255 

To those who have read of the terrors in France during her 
revolution a hundred years ago, and who may be familiar with 
the history of other national calamities, and the many times of 
trouble that our world has seen, it may be a startling revelation 
that none of those scenes in the past furnish a parallel to which 
this "time of trouble" in the "time of the end" may be likened. 
Yet such is the declaration of the Scriptures. And in view of 
the condition of our world to-day, what else is there to expect ? 
As we enter the time when, as the Word of God foretells, 
"every imagination of the thoughts" of men's hearts will be 
"only evil continually," the only result that can follow will 
be an unprecedented "time of trouble." It will be as much 
worse than the "time of trouble" resulting from the abandoned 
wickedness in Noah's time, as the population of evil-doers is 
greater now, and as Satan's ability to deceive has by long 
practise become more acute and cunning. 

Other scriptures bear testimony that the closing days of 
earth's history are a "time of trouble." Luke records the 
Master's words as follows: "There shall be signs in the sun, 
and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress 
of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; 
men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those 
things which are coming on the earth; for the powers of heaven 
shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man 
coming in a cloud with power and great glory." Luke 21 : 2 5-2 7. 

Thus has the Lord foretold the "distress of nations, with 
perplexity," that will exist on the earth at the time of His 
coming. Not only will the nations be in "distress" and "per- 
plexity," but there will be the "sea and the waves roaring." 
Men will see these "things which are coming on the earth," 
and their "hearts will fail them for fear." Such is the Word 
of God, and such are the literal facts. 

The reader is familiar with Paul's statement in 2 Tim. 3 : 1-5, 
which tells of the "perilous times" that shall come "in the last 



256 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

days." He knows of the great list of sins there enumerated 
that shall exist not only in the world, but among those who 
"have a form of godliness," which sins are the producers of the 
last-day perils. Selfishness, avarice, and the cruelty of sin have 
ever been a source of danger in the world; but this danger 
reaches its climax in the "time of trouble," and occasions "fears," 
"perplexities," and "perils" in the "last days." 

Other scriptures sounding the warning of dangers that will 
exist in the closing years of earth's reign of sin are doubtless 
before the mind; but perhaps in none of them is the situation 
more vividly portrayed than in the words of Zephaniahi' — 

"And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search 
Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men that are settled on 
their lees: that say in their heart, The Lord will not do good, 
neither will He do evil. Therefore their goods shall become a 
booty, and their houses a desolation; they shall also build 
houses, but not inhabit them ; and they shall plant vineyards, 
but not drink the wine thereof. The great day of the Lord is 
near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day 
of the Lord ; the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. That 
day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of 
wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a 
day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of the trumpet and 
alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers. 
And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like 
blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord; and 
their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the 
dung. Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver 
them in the day of the Lord's wrath; but the whole land shall 
be devoured by the fire of His jealousy; for He shall make 
even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land." 
Zeph. 1:12-18. 

The word "Jerusalem" sometimes applies to the professed 
church of Christ as well as to the literal city of the Jews, and 



THERE SHALL BE A TIME OF TROUBLE. 25 J 

m the foregoing quotation it very clearly denotes the church. 
Not only do these words of Zephaniah add their harmonious 
testimony to what other scriptures say concerning our times, 
but a most solemn warning is given to professed Christians 
"that are settled on their lees," and who "say in their heart, 
The Lord will not do good, neither will He do evil." This is 
the time of the church's greatest responsibility; for "the great 
day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly." Zeph- 
aniah says, "The mighty man shall cry there bitterly;" he says 
it is "a day of trouble and distress;" it is "a day of waste- 
ness and desolation;" it is "a day of darkness and gloominess, 
a day of clouds and thick darkness." The prophet also adds 
that it is "a day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced 
cities, and against the high towers," showing, of course, the 
spirit of war that shall be in the land. And because of these 
impending perils, the church should be intensely active in her 
Master's work. 

What solemn heed should be given to the warnings sent to 
this wicked age: "I will bring distress upon men, that they 
shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against 
the Lord." And "neither their silver nor their gold," which, 
as previously shown, they have "heaped together for the last 
days," "shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord's 
wrath." Surely this scripture adds a most decided testimony 
to the fact that there shall be a great "time of trouble" just 
before the coming of the Just One. 

We have already seen that the last days will be full of satanic 
deceptions. What perils and trouble these deceptions will lead 
men into, only divine foresight is able to reveal. We have been 
forewarned that at the "coming of the Son of man," even as in 
"the days of Noah," "every imagination of the thoughts" of 
men's hearts will be "only evil continually;" that "all flesh" 
will "corrupt his way upon the earth," and the earth will be 
"filled with violence;" that judgment will be "turned away 



258 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

backward," and the corrupting vices of Sodom will pollute the 
world; that a "form of godliness" will take the place of the 
power of the Gospel in the church, and in consequence many 
professors of Christianity will be "lovers of pleasures more than 
lovers of God." We have read the scriptures that tell of those 
who will heap "treasure together for the last days," and also 
have heard how the cry of the laborers will be raised in conse- 
quence of this oppression. The present conflict between capital 
and labor is indeed most vividly set forth in the inspired Word. 
Our minds have been impressed by the predictions of the awful 
work that will be done by the "angry" nations, as they are 
gathered by the evil spirits to "the battle of that great day." 
The Lord has told us that the elements in the physical world 
will break forth in terrific storms and earthquakes, until the 
earth shall be "utterly broken down," "clean dissolved," "moved 
exceedingly" — yea, that it "shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, 
and shall be removed like a cottage," on account of the trans- 
gression "that shall be heavy upon it." Then, too, the earth 
is "waxing old like a garment;" in its decaying condition crops 
are uncertain, and famine and pestilence will fill the world. 

But in the face of all these plain statements of the Lord, 
and while standing in the time when the facts that fulfil His 
Word are a present, living reality, men will say: "Do not be 
disturbed. There is no ' time of trouble ' ahead. Rest easy ; 
for the nations will 'learn war no more,' and it is 'peace and 
safety* ahead of us." 

Many have uttered these false assurances of peace igno- 
rantly. It has been taught them, and they have taken it for 
granted that it is so. But the Lord's Word is plain, and He is 
seeking by its mighty power to dispel the delusion. There are 
many who are beginning to see the danger ahead, and are rais- 
ing the signal of alarm. They do not all understand the mean- 
ing of the perils that are on either side of us, and that loom 
up still darker in front of us, yet, nevertheless, they see them. 



THERE SHALL BE A TIME OF TROUBLE. ^59 

Archbishop Ireland says: "The bonds of society are relaxed; 
traditional principles are losing their sacredness, and perils 
hitherto unknown are menacing- the life of the social organism." 
— The Church and Modern Society, p. 4, 1897- 

It is with no indistinctness that the celebrated archbishop 
says that "perils hitherto unknown are menacing the life of the 
social organism!' 

Leo XIII. speaks on the subject as follows: " It is not sur- 
prising that the spirit of revolutionary change which has so long 
been dominant in the nations of the world, should have passed 
beyond politics, and made its influence felt in the cognate field 
of practical economy. The elements of a conflict are unmis- 
takable : the growth of industry, and the surprising discoveries 
of science; the changed relations of masters and workmen; 
the enormous fortunes of individuals, and the poverty of the 
masses; the increased self-reliance and the closer natural com- 
bination of the working population; and, finally, a general 
moral deterioration. The momentous seriousness of the pres- 
ent state of things just now fills every mind with painful 
apprehension; wise men discuss it; practical men propose 
schemes; popular meetings, legislatures, and sovereign princes, 
all are occupied with it; and there is nothing which has a deeper 
hold on public attention." — Encyclical Letter on the Condition 
of Labor, i8qi. 

Leo very clearly sees the difficulties that are arising. He 
sees that the "momentous seriousness of the present state of 
things just now fills every mind with painful apprehension," 
and "that there is nothing which has a deeper hold on the 
public attention." He sees the elements coming together that 
will combine to make the great and final "time of trouble." 

Mr. Benjamin Kidd says: "To the thoughtful mind the 
outlook at the close of the nineteenth century is profoundly 
interesting. History can furnish no parallel to it. The prob- 
lems which loom across the threshold of the new century sur- 



260 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

pass in magnitude any that civilization has hitherto had to 
encounter" — Social Evolution, p. i. 

E. Benjamin Andrews, formerly president of Brown Uni- 
versity and now superintendent of the public schools of Chicago, 
on returning from Europe in the fall of 1897, said: "No well- 
informed person in Europe seems to believe that peace is 
destined to endure there very long. On all hands people are 
preparing for war. Armies and navies are strengthened; forti- 
fications multiplied; immense war treasures of gold piled up; 
all possible hypothetical plans of campaign, offensive and defen- 
sive, studied and discussed; firearms, great and small, ceaselessly 
experimented upon and improved ; civil measures subordinated 
to military, and statesmen to great army men and navy men. 
Within a few months I have read several articles on the defense 
of London in case of an attack from the continent. 

" Moreover, where all sorts of maneuvers for alliances are 
going on, there is wide-spread distrust of treaties and the national 
friendships that exist. Almost never before, I think, did so 
many nations of Europe feel themselves hopelessly isolated. 
Great Britain is in distress on this account; so is Germany. 
Family ties between crown-wearing persons amount to nothing. 
When Nicholas, of Muscovy, visited London a year ago, he 
sojourned some days in Germany both going and coming. On 
each occasion William besought his dear cousin, almost with 
tears, for some word of assurance that the Russians meant 
peace. 'Cousin,' was the reply, 'if you Germans wish security, 
make terms with France.' It was a stone instead of bread; 
insult, not comfort; yet it is said William dare not show resent- 
ment, remembering the size of the Muscovite army and its 
nearness to his eastern borders.'' z — Reported in Chicago Inter 
Ocean, Oct. ij, i8gy. 

Senor Crispi, Italy's greatest statesman, says: "Europe 
resembles Spain from a certain point of view. Anarchy is 
dominant everywhere. To speak frankly, there is no Europe. 



THERE SHALL BE A TIME OF TROUBLE. 26l 

The European concert is only a sinister joke. Nothing can 
be expected from the concert of the powers. We are marching 
towards the unknown. Who knows what to-morrow has in 
store for us ? " — Crispi, in the New York World, April 2j, 
i8 9 8. 

It is unnecessary to comment on the foregoing quotations. 
They are but selections from utterances that are continually 
made on the platform and through the press, and they show 
that many men are awake to the fact that a great storm is gath- 
ering. They see the " distress of nations," and are perplexed; 
their hearts are "failing them for fear, and for looking after 
those things which are coming on the earth;" they realize that 
"perilous times" have come, and see the rapidly-approaching 
"time of trouble." And yet, if they would only turn to the 
light of God's Word, and allow it to illuminate, purify, and 
cheer their hearts, they would know what it all means, and 
would not be "perplexed" nor "fear." We have already seen 
that the angels of God are commissioned to "hold" the "winds" 
of strife in check till all have a chance to flee to the safe shelter 
so divinely provided. 

In these "perilous times," and while "men's hearts are failing 
them for fear" because they see the unmistakable approach of 
that "time of trouble, such as never was since there was 
a nation," do not give the trumpet the uncertain sound. Do 
not say, "Peace, peace, when there is no peace;" but hold aloft 
the light of the blessed Bible, so that men may see the great 
"city of refuge." 





CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO. 



WE have been considering the Bible description of the 
conditions that will prevail all over the earth at the 
close of time. We have seen the inspired statements 
concerning the "time of trouble" and the last-day "perils;" we 
have read from the Book of God of the "waxing old" of the 
earth, and that "the sea and the waves" will be roaring; we 
have learned of the "angry" nations, and of those who oppress 
the laborer, and "heap treasure together for the last days;" we 
have found also that God has foretold the vice, the crime, the 
injustice, and the violence that will fill the land. Looking at 
this picture only, we see nothing but darkness, distress, and wo; 
but there is a great light shining through it all, and far above 
and beyond it. 

Will our heavenly Father allow Satan to curse the world 
with deceptions, and corrupting and distressing sins, and He do 
nothing to show the blessings and the joys of truth and good- 
ness ? Will He allow the evil to lift its hideous though bedecked 
and gilded head to the most consummate heights of folly, that 
it may the more surely plunge men to the lowest depths of 
(262) 



THE EARTH WAS LIGHTENED BY HIS GLORY. 263 

wickedness and wo, and do nothing to expose the danger, 
and save the beguiled and deluded objects of His love? The 
first advent of Christ was heralded by the anthems of angels; 
the miraculous power and love of the Saviour were manifested in 
preaching to the poor, healing the sick, and raising the dead; at 
Pentecost there was a mighty outpouring of the Spirit of God; 
and will this dispensation, so wondrously begun in the demonstra- 
tion of divine power, be allowed to close in obscurity and weak- 
ness? Will its glorious light be made to flicker dimly, or be 
buried beneath the rubbish of this sinful time? — No, never, never! 

Without doubt the eighteenth chapter of Revelation presents 
the strongest, the most scathing, and the most heart-searching 
condemnation of the sins of the last generation, that can be 
found in the inspired Book. Read the entire chapter, and allow 
it to quicken your sense of the divine displeasure with wrong; 
but do not fail to observe closely the opening sentences: — 

"And after these things I saw another angel come down 
from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened 
with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, 
saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the 
habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage 
of every unclean and hateful bird." Verses i, 2. 

How sublime is the description of this mighty angel who 
lifts such a strong voice against the sins of Babylon ! This 
babel of evil that seeks by its corruptions completely to over- 
throw the last generation of men, must be exposed. Light 
must be thrown in upon these hidden, iniquitous works of 
darkness that make the last days "perilous," and cause an 
unprecedented "time of trouble;" and so the heavenly mes- 
senger is sent to "lighten the earth with his glory." Here is a 
promise that fires every emotion of the soul with the entrancing 
thought that in the very stronghold of iniquity, and amid its 
most desperate working, the Master exerts His mighty power, 
and "the earth is lightened with His glory." 



264 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

The Lord left the promise with His church that "these 
signs shall follow them that believe: In My name shall they cast 
out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take 
up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not 
hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall 
recover." Mark 16:17, 18. 

The Master inspired one of His apostles to repeat this 
promise by saying, "God hath set some in the church, first 
apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that mir- 
acles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of 
tongues." 1 Cor. 12:28. 

Yes, "God hath set" all these good gifts in His church. 
It is His plan for His church to have "apostles," "prophets," 
"teachers," "miracles," "gifts of healings," "helps," "govern- 
ments," "diversities of tongues." We read in His Word that 
this is His design, and know that it is so. And since our 
Father in heaven has designed it, may we not be sure that 
He will bring it to pass? 

It is true that soon after He uttered the foregoing assurances 
concerning the gifts He had placed in His church, a great 
apostasy began; it is true that the "mystery of iniquity" found 
its way into the hearts of those who professed the name of 
Christ, and what He once delighted to call His church became 
a wicked and cruel misrepresentation of His righteousness, His 
mercy, and His love. But after men had gone to the very 
depths of this apostasy; when they had bound themselves about 
with all the gloom and superstitions of the Dark Ages, then it 
was that they began to awaken to a realization of the craving 
in the soul for something that could not be found in their 
pilgrimages, their penances, and- their exacting forms of creed- 
bound service. Our God was following them all the time. He 
yearned over them with love. He kept giving them all the 
light that their eyes, so used to darkness, could endure. And 
when the awakening time came, His Word was again sought, 



THE EARTH WAS LIGHTENED BY HIS GLORY. 265 

and read as never before. The printing-press multiplies copies 
of it; missionaries put it in other languages, and carry it to all 
the world; and the new day of Gospel light unfolds as fast as 
men will turn to God and become the bearers of His gems 
of truth. 

The outgrowth of this light from God is the breaking of 
the shackles that have for so long enslaved men's minds. The 
world is encouraged to think, and the resultant monuments of 
thought rise to mountain heights in the marvelous material 
productions of the nineteenth century. The Lord is leading; 
and if mankind wou 1 d only follow, every one might be saved 
from the thraldom of sin, and be carried still higher and higher 
into the unfolding glories of the Eternal. 

As men are led to study and believe the Bible, some will be 
developed through whom God can manifest His " gifts" that 
He "has set" "in the church." To some will be given the 
"word of wisdom;" to others, the "word of knowledge;" to 
others, the "gift of faith;" to others, the "gifts of healings;" to 
others, the "working of miracles;" to others, the gift of "proph- 
ecy;" to others, the "discerning of spirits;" to others, the gift 
of "tongues;" and to others, the "interpretation of tongues." 
1 Cor. 12 :8-io. 

That was a wonderful manifestation of the power of the 
Spirit of God, when at Pentecost the "gifts" worked powerfully 
in the church ; but under the outpouring of the Spirit in these 
last days, these gifts that formality and unbelief have driven 
out, will return to do a mightier work. Satan sees the unfolding 
of the Lord's great plan. He becomes enraged that he can 
not hold men in the superstitious errors of darkness. He plans 
in his most masterly way to deceive mankind. He can lead 
many into such gross crimes and vices that nothing short of the 
dawning judgment day will cause them to look up to God; 
others can be kept in a sort of genteel infidelity, that looks with 
pity upon him who believes the Word of the Lord; but there 



2 66 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

are many others who, while they hold to the Bible, yet do so in 
a careless, nominal way, and without appropriating its vitalizing 
truth ; and special delusions must be prepared for these. Satan 
knows that God is educating His true followers, who are now 
scattered in every clime, and worshiping under so many denom- 
inational names, to do a mighty work. "It shall come to pass in 
the last days, saith God, I will pour out of My Spirit upon all 
flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and 
your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream 
dreams; and on My servants and on My handmaidens I will 
pour out in those days of My Spirit; and they shall prophesy; 
and I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the 
earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; the sun 
shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before 
that great and notable day of the Lord come ; and it shall come 
to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall 
be saved." Acts 2 : 17-21. 

The evil one knows these prophecies concerning this mighty 
outpouring of God's Spirit "in the last days." He knows that 
God has said that a mighty angel has been commissioned to 
enlighten the earth with his glory; and if you have never before 
seen the cunning of Satan, witness the counterfeit "healers" 
and "faith cures" that he is sending out to flood the world with 
their pernicious and misleading notions. And those persons 
who hold to the Bible in a careless, indifferent way ; the ones 
who do not dig for themselves into its great mines of truth, so 
that they may be fortified by a personal knowledge of just what 
God's own Word says, are the ones who will be most easily 
beguiled by the sophistries of Satan. 

If no other evidence can show you that God is preparing to 
do a marvelous work in these last days, under the outpouring of 
mighty pentecostal manifestations of His Spirit, just witness the 
counterfeits that are being sent out to discredit this on-coming 
work of the Lord, Men and women are rising up everywhere 



THE EARTH WAS LIGHTENED BY HIS GLORY. 267 

who talk glibly about the gifts of miracles and healing that God 
has placed in the church. A superficial knowledge leads one to 
believe that all their teaching is warranted by Scripture; but a 
deeper knowledge, a daily study of the Word, a devoted faith 
in its teaching, and a full surrender of the will to God — through 
which comes the possession of His "gift" of the " discerning of 
spirits " — is the only thing that enables us to known whether 
these persons are pretenders, or whether they are sent out by 
the authority of Heaven and with power from on high. 

Of this one thing be sure: when the Master places His 
"gifts of healing" upon a man, that man will be able to say, as 
did Peter to the lame man at the gate of the temple, "In the 
name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk;" and those 
words will contain the power of God, and the malady must go. 
What God does is perfect, and there will be no doubt about the 
reality of the healing. The skill of a physician will not be 
needed to tell the patient that he is well ; for the ruddy glow of 
health will testify that a soul has been breathed upon by omnip- 
otent power. Men of faith may pray for the afflicted, and God's 
Word says that "the prayer of faith shall save the sick" (James 
5:15); but he who has the "gifts of healings" is commissioned 
of Heaven to command disease, and divine power obliges it at 
once to depart. 

But let it be remembered that there will appear what seem 
from every human standpoint to be miraculous healings, which 
are nevertheless not done by the power of God. We have 
already learned that, to enforce his great deceptions in the last 
days, Satan will work "with all power and signs and lying 
wonders." You may ask, Why is he permitted thus to work? 
— It is that the malignant virus of sin may be made manifest, 
and its deceitful workings fully known; but God shows His 
care for His creatures by unmasking the monster of evil, so 
that all may know its real character. He also fills His Word 
with promises that enable every one to shun the charms of sin, 
17 



268 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

and stand at all times in the blazing light and power of truth. 
Yes, the reader may even be one of those who join with the 
mighty angel in these closing hours of time in filling the earth 
with the light and glory of the Lord. 

Tell it everywhere; tell it over and over again, "Glorious 
things are spoken of thee, O city of God." Let all the world 
know that God sends His mighty angel from heaven, and the 
earth will be lightened with his glory. Receive the Word of 
God. Stand in the fulness of the power of faith; and as our 
Father pours out His Spirit to accomplish His mighty work, 
He will use you as His instrument of righteousness, service, 
and glory. 




CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE* 



SOME of the scriptures have been presented that show the 
working of Satan in the last days. His last struggle to 
engulf the world in sin and pestilential disease culminates 
in the seven last plagues. The words of Scripture that foretell 
what these plagues will be are both literal and plain, and with 
so many of the facts concerning these closing years of earth's 
history before us, but little need be said upon the subject aside 
from quoting the Scripture itself. The Word reads as follows: 
" I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven 
angels having the seven last plagues ; for in them is filled up the 
wrath of God. And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled 
with fire ; and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, 
and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of 
his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. 
And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the 
song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are Thy works, 
Lord God Almighty; just and true are Thy ways, Thou King 
of saints. Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy 
name? for Thou only art holy; for all nations shall come and 
worship before Thee; for Thy judgments are made manifest. 

(269) 



27O HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

"And after that I looked, and, behold, the temple of the 
tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened; and the 
seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, 
clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded 
with golden girdles. And one of the four beasts [" living crea- 
tures," R. V.] gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full 
of the wrath of God, who liveth forever and ever. And the 
temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from 
His power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till 
the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled. 

"And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the 
seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath 
of God upon the earth. 

"And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; 
and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men 
which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which wor- 
shiped his image. 

"And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; 
and it became as the blood of a dead man; and every living 
soul died in the sea. 

"And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and 
fountains of waters; and they became blood. And I heard the 
angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, 
and wast, and shalt be, because Thou hast judged thus. For 
they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and Thou 
hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy. And I 
heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, 
true and righteous are Thy judgments. 

"And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; 
and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. And 
men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name 
of God, which hath power over these plagues; and they repented 
not to give Him glory. 

" And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the 



THE SEVEN LAST PLAGUES. 27 1 

beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed 
their tongues for pain, and blasphemed the God of heaven 
because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their 
deeds. 

"And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great 
river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the 
way of the kings of the east might be prepared. And I saw 
three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the 
dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the 
mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, 
working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth 
and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that 
great day of God Almighty. Behold, I come as a thief. 
Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he 
walk naked, and they see his shame. And he gathered them 
together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. 

"And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; 
and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from 
the throne, saying, It is done. And there were voices, and 
thunders, and lightnings ; and there was a great earthquake, 
such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an 
earthquake, and so great. And the great city was divided into 
three parts, and the cities of the nations fell ; and great Babylon 
came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of 
the wine of the fierceness of His wrath. And every island fled 
away, and the mountains were not found. And there fell upon 
men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of 
a talent; and men blasphemed God because of the plague of 
the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great." Revela- 
tion, chapters 15 and 16. 

The overwhelming mass of sins in these last days, both 
among hypocritical professors and in the non-professing world, 
are committed in defiance of the greatest manifestation of the 
light of the Gospel that has ever illuminated the minds of men. 



272 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

None will be able to plead ignorance. God has sent His 
mighty agencies to lighten the earth with His glory. And yet, 
in spite of all this, men give themselves up to "every imagina- 
tion" of evil ; they fill the earth with violence, vice, and injustice; 
and because there is no justice in the land, the great Judge 
Himself takes His throne, and in these "seven last plagues" 
metes out the just penalties that this wicked generation has 
hitherto eluded. 

In these "seven last plagues," it is said, "is filled up the 
wrath of God." But do not harbor the thought that the "wrath 
of God" is in any way akin to the murderous, vindictive wrath 
of sinful man. Man indulges in wrath the same as in any other 
sin. Human anger is aroused by some selfish impulse, by a 
desire for revenge, and to gratify vindictive hate, or possibly to 
resent something that insults human pride or notions of manli- 
ness. All of this is sin. It is the sin that is the very taproot 
of murder. "Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer," says 
the apostle; "and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life 
abiding in him." 

Then it is evident that the wrath which God condemns in 
men, and which He defines as murder, is another thing alto- 
gether from the "wrath of God." Many persons have been 
greatly troubled because the Bible speaks of God's "wrath;" 
and no wonder, if they have the conception that God's wrath 
is the same as the revengeful, furious, sinful anger of fallen 
man. Cease forever to regard our heavenly Father in the light 
of doing that which He forbids as murder in one of the great 
precepts of His decalogue. 

No! Look at this matter in its true light. The people of 
this generation are rushing headlong into the most corrupting 
evils that satanic influence can suggest — doing it under the 
blaze of the greatest light that Heaven can throw around them; 
doing it in defiance of the strongest convictions of right ; doing 
it despite the most tender and touching appeals of mercy ; and 



THE SEVEN LAST PLAGUES. 



273 



by the most heartless spurning of the tenderest, and the deep- 
est, and the most clinging love. And when no pure impulse 
is any longer felt; when the awful depths are reached where 
"every imagination of the thoughts" of men's hearts is "only 
evil continually," then, and not till then, it is that our Father 
sorrowfully metes out the punishment that even the wicked 
themselves will finally say they more than rightly deserve. 

"Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no 
pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn 
from his way and live; turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; 
for why will ye die, O house of Israel?" Eze. 33:11. Hear 
this entreaty of a Father's love: "Turn ye, turn ye from your 
evil ways; for why will ye die?" The Master has sent out His 
warning against the evils of this time. He has told the world 
of the "seven last plagues" that will soon be visited upon the 
persistent transgressor. He is moving all Heaven to touch the 
sinner by His grace, so that He may save him from this ruin. 
Oh, who will heed this warning? Is it possible for any to spurn 
so devoted and faithful a Friend? 







CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR. 

THE "time of trouble, such as never was since there was a 
nation," is rapidly drawing on. But in the presence of 
these accumulating perils we have a Refuge. The arm of 
our omnipotent Father is stretched out to protect and rescue us. 
But the reader may be among those who are loaded with 
corrupting vice and polluting sins, — among those who are 
unjust, oppressive, and cruel. If so, there is encouragement in 
the Word even for all such; for it says, "This is a faithful 
saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came 
into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief." i Tim. 
1:15. He saves to the uttermost all "that come unto God by 
him." Heb. 7:25. Is it possible to get beyond "the utter- 
most"? Even the "chief" of sinners is called. Indeed, the 
Lord could call none others in this world but sinners; "for all 
have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Rom. 3:23. 
"Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your 
doings from before Mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do 
well ; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, 
plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together, 
saith the Lord; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as 
white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be 
as wool." Isa. 1:16-18. 
(274) 



OUR REFUGE AND FORTRESS. 275 

''Scarlet" and "crimson" are indelible colors; yet the Lord 
promises that though our sins are like "scarlet" He will make 
them as "snow," and "though they be red like crimson, they 
shall be as wool." He saves to "the uttermost" even the 
"chief of sinners." What more could be asked? What more 
could be given? 

We may be at a loss to know how He can cleanse such vile 
sinners, but there is comfort in the thought that God can do 
many things that we can not understand. We do not know 
how an acorn grows into naught else than the oak, while a 
grain of wheat planted by its side will just as invariably produce 
nothing but its own kind. Can you tell how this is ? The 
answer is readily made that "it is nature." But "nature" did 
not create itself, neither does it generate the power that is so 
manifest in its workings. It is our heavenly Father who 
created and sustains all this perfect and beautiful manifestation 
of life that we (and so often without a thought of what we are 
saying) call "nature." Nature is matter obeying the voice of 
God. It is the Father in heaven, all-powerful, ever present, 
and ever working, who produces all this wonderful life and 
activity in the natural world. 

Know, then, O sinner, that Jesus is infinite in salvation's 
power! He who commands all the mighty and mysterious 
forces of nature, says that though your sins be of the deepest 
dye, they shall be as white as the snow. Then "seek ye the 
Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is 
near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man 
his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and He will 
have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly 
pardon. For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are 
your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are 
higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, 
and My thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain cometh 
down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, 



276 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, 
that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater; so 
shall My Word be that goeth forth out of My mouth ; it shall 
not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I 
please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." 
Isa. 55:6-11. Read these promises, meditate upon them, 
believe them, and the Spirit of God will comfort and strengthen 
the heart through them. 

It may be that, though a child of God, your heart is " failing" 
"for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming 
on the earth." Perhaps the increasing and awfully destructive 
storms and earthquakes, and the general commotion in nature, 
inspire terror. But it should not be so. God promises: "Thou 
shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow 
that flieth by day; nor for the pestilence that walketh in 
darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A 
thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right 
hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes 
shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. Because 
thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the Most 
High, thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither 
shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling." Ps. 91 :5-io. 

"Thou shalt not be afraid." How soul-satisfying is this 
word ! The Lord does not merely admonish us not to be 
afraid; He does not say simply that we ought not to fear; but 
He asserts that we "shall not be afraid." "For He shall give 
His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. 
They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot 
against a stone." Ps. 91:11, 12. 

If any are fearful because of the famines that will become 
more and more prevalent as the earth "waxes old," the Word 
says: "He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; 
he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands 
from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of 



OUR REFUGE AND FORTRESS. 277 

blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; he shall dwell 
on high; his place of defense shall be the munitions of rocks: 

BREAD SHALL BE GIVEN HIM; HIS WATERS SHALL BE SURE. Thine 

eyes shall see the King in His beauty; they shall behold the 
land that is very far off." Isa. 33:15-17. "They shall not be 
ashamed in the evil time; and in the days of famine they shall 
be satisfied." Ps. 37:19. 

Again the Lord says: "When thou passest through the 
waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall 
not overflow thee; when thou walkest through the fire, thou 
shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. 
For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy 
Saviour." Isa. 43:2, 3. "No weapon that is formed against 
thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee 
in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the 
servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of Me, saith 
the Lord." Isa. 54:17. 

There are no conditions nor difficulties, even in the worst 
possibilities of the present, or in the portentous days that are 
just ahead of us, that God does not penetrate with promises 
that bring hope and comfort and strength. 

Satan has summoned all his malignant power in his last and 
supreme effort to oppress and destroy the people of God; but 
their danger appeals to the tender mercy and love of their 
Father; and, as expressed in the sublimest of inspired prophecy, 
there will be heard the shout of the Eternal: "Awake, awake, 
put on strength, O arm of the Lord; awake, as in the ancient 
days, in the generations of old. Art Thou not it that hath cut 
Rahab, and wounded the dragon ? Art Thou not it which hath 
dried the sea, the waters of the great deep ; that hath made the 
depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over?" 
Isa. 51:9, 10. 

The Lord did wonderful things in the land of Egypt; He 
brought His people out of the bondage, the gross idolatry and 



278 HERALDS OF THE MORNING. 

sin of that dark land, "with a mighty hand, and with an out- 
stretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and 
with wonders;" but with a mightier and more glorious display 
of his love and power will He take them out of the accumu- 
lating corruptions, the debasing sins and evils of this time. 
God's exercise of power in that time was abundant in saving 
His people from Pharaoh's cruel tyranny; but in this time, 
when Satan is concentrating all his forces of evil, equipped 
with all the experience and training of the long reign of sin 
and crime, the occasion demands a corresponding exercise of 
divine majesty and might. "The Lord also shall roar out of 
Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and 
the earth shall shake; but the Lord will be the hope of His 
people, and the strength of the children of Israel." Joel 3:16. 

How soul-inspiring is the thought that the "last days" are 
reached, and that in our time the Lord will fulfil His Word 
that says: "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall 
no more be said, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children 
of Israel out of the land of Egypt; but, The Lord liveth, that 
brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, 
and from all the lands whither He had driven them; and I will 
bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers." 
Jer. 16:14, 15. 

In that time the Lord took His Israel from Egypt to an 
earthly Canaan; but in this time He gathers them from every 
part of the world to lead them into His heavenly and eternal 
Caanan. And when this latter work is accomplished, it shall 
"no more be said, The Lord liveth, that brought up the chil- 
dren of Israel out of the land of Egypt." How glorious, then, 
must this final deliverance be, when it so outshines the mighty 
works of God in Egypt, and is made to stand forth as the one 
monumental illustration for all eternity of the glorious working 
of the mighty power of God! "Therefore the redeemed of 
the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and 



OUR REFUGE AND FORTRESS. 



279 



everlasting joy shall be upon their head; they shall obtain 
gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away." 
Isa. 51 : 11. 

It is only the poetry of inspiration and the inspiration of 
poetry that can thus express the "glorious things" that "are 
spoken of thee, O city of God." Then happy will it be for 
us if we stand upon the foundation of God's sure Word, so that 
we may recognize the heralds of that morning that is so soon 
to break and disclose to every watchful eye and waiting heart 
the satisfying realities of the eternal day. And as it becomes 
more and more evident that our Saviour is soon coming, let us 
pray with the beloved John, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus." 




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